Legal News Articles & Interviews

Washington, DC Emery Pharma, a California-based testing laboratory has reported that Zantac appears to produce unacceptably high levels of cancer-causing N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) when exposed to heat for as little as five days. Brief periods of modestly inadequate temperature control can easily occur during transport, storage or even in consumer’s home. These findings have sparked new calls for a U.S. Food and Drug Administration recall of Zantac and related generic drugs and will likely fuel class action Zantac cancer lawsuits (ZANTAC) already underway.

Sacramento, CA Many new California employment and labor laws went into effect this January 1, 2020. If you are a California  employer, employee or independent contractor, it’s a good idea to review these new laws that have been passed as they might impact you.  

Washington, DC On January 13, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Thole v. U.S. Bank, NA, an ERISA lawsuit (ERISA) that has major implications for the rights of participants and beneficiaries to sue plan sponsors under the basic legal framework of ERISA. The defendant plan sponsor will argue that the plaintiff retirees have no standing to sue over alleged breaches of fiduciary duty because they have not suffered any individual financial loss. The defendant plan sponsor will ask the Court to affirm an Eighth Circuit decision that limits participants’ rights to oversee investment management decisions.

Santa Clara, CA Since the FDA last September reported that minute amounts of a carcinogen called N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) was detected in Zantac, along with several other heartburn medications, a number of Zantac cancer lawsuits have followed.

Anaheim, CA All Disney employees are entitled to minimum wage, from bellhop to barista, Mickie and Minnie. But five current and former workers claim that the entertainment behemoth has violated the California labor law by failing to pay its workers minimum wage, failing to pay overtime and all wages owed at termination.

San Diego, CA On December 2, the Southern District of California granted preliminary approval to the settlement of a class action lawsuit that shone a light on the real cost of Target’s Red Card purchases for thousands of Target shoppers since 2012. The store-branded payment card permitted Target to charge Returned Payment Fees (RPFs) of $20 to $40 in addition to multiple bank overdraft fees on purchases for which there were insufficient funds in a customer’s account.

San Francisco, CA On December 16, Judge Edward Chen of the Northern District of California denied Uber’s Motion to Dismiss a class action California labor lawsuit that claims Uber drivers were misclassified as independent contractors under standards set out in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court. However, in Colopy v. Uber Techs Inc., Judge Chen also denied the drivers’ Motion for a Preliminary Injunction. The injunction would have required the ride-hailing giant to begin to treat drivers as employees immediately.

San Francisco Edwin Hardeman v. Monsanto was the first federal trial and the March 2019  verdict is considered a milestone in the continuing Roundup cancer debate. Hardeman claimed his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was caused by glyphosate in Roundup weed killer and the company knew its product was carcinogenic but deliberately misled the public.

Santa Clara, CARecent studies are ramping up the dangers of vaping e-cigarettes. For more than five years, researchers have found that e-cigarette vaping causes physical harm, including chemical burns to lung tissue, toxic metal exposure and vitamin E oil that clogs lungs--all causing serious damage.

San Francisco, CA A former Juul employee filed a sexual harassment lawsuit early December in San Francisco Superior Court, claiming she was the victim of unwanted sexual advances. Her California labor lawsuit also claims wrongful termination after reporting the harassment incidents to the vaping company managers.