Legal News Articles & Interviews

Washington, DC  A recently published study links breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) to implants manufactured by seven pharmaceutical companies. In addition to Allergan, the manufacturer of Biocell textured breast implants, the study names Mentor Worldwide, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, Silimed Polyurethane, Eurosilicone, Nagor, Orion, and Poly Implant Prothèse. Allergan faces at least 150 product liability and class action lawsuits. Mentor faces a smaller number, and none of the others are yet facing litigation.

New York, NY Five more women have recently filed lawsuits against Cooper Surgical and Teva Pharmaceuticals claiming its ParaGard IUD broke while being removed. The ParaGard website warns consumers that its device sometimes gets stuck in the uterus, requiring surgical removal, but does not include a problem with it breaking apart.

Santa Clara, CA More Elmiron lawsuits are being filed in the U.S. and Canada has filed two class action lawsuits, all alleging the interstitial cystitis drug can cause permanent vision damage.

Somerville, NJ In mid-October 2019, the FDA recalled Ethicon Echelon Flex surgical staplers because of a dangerous manufacturing failure that could cause serious health damage or even death. This followed, by only a few months, a recall of Ethicon Endo-Surgery curved intraluminal staplers, a defective medical product that posed similar dangers to patients.

Los Angeles, CA On August 24, the District Court for the Central District of California gave final approval to a settlement under which ExxonMobil, PBF Energy Limited and Torrance Refining Company, LLC will pay a total of nearly $4.4 million to settle a class action lawsuit in which refinery workers claim that they were denied the paid rest breaks required under California labor law.

Los Angeles, CA Farmers Insurance has agreed to settle a California wage and hour lawsuit brought by Famers special investigators alleging failure to pay overtime, including meal breaks and rest periods. The settlement includes anyone who worked in California for Farmers as a special investigator between 2013 and 2018. And this is not the first time Famers has settled an overtime claim.

Wilmington, DE Set against the backdrop of California’s notorious water wars, the 1974 film “Chinatown,” focuses on the mysterious Evelyn, who must finally explain whether a young girl is her daughter or her sister. The awful truth unfolds. She is murdered – shot through the eye as her daughter or sister screams. Evelyn’s private detective/lover is told to leave it alone; he doesn’t understand what’s going on. His partner utters the grim tagline, “Forget it Jake; it’s Chinatown,” from which the movie takes its title. In Alvarez v. Wilmington Trust, the latest Wilmington Trust ERISA lawsuit, the prize at the center of the story is not water rights, but the vast sums of money held in Employee Stock Ownership Plans, ERISA retirement plans designed to invest primarily in employer stock.

Pensacola, FL A federal judge ruled in July that 3M ‘s defective earplug excuse cannot invoke the “government contractor defense,” which was key to 3M. The company has used this reasoning because it protects contractors from tort liability for defects in products designed and developed for the federal government, and 3M claimed its combat arms earplugs were designed in close collaboration with the military. Now that 3M is no longer immune to this defense, bellweather discovery is underway.

Manhattan, NY A sexual harassment and retaliation settlement was in the spotlight, this past July. It involved more than 25 construction workers who were subjected to physical assaults and other types of harassment, and some workers were retaliated against after complaining to supervisors. “It’s so important that these women supported and corroborated each other,” says attorney Vincent White.  “It is never okay for someone to harass you at work.”

San Francisco, CA Bradley et al v. T-Mobile US Inc. et al., a long-running lawsuit first filed in 2017, alleges that T-Mobile’s Facebook recruitment practices violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The nationwide, class action lawsuit also alleges violations of the California labor code and other state laws.