Anne Wallace

Silver Spring, MD On January 3, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an updated advisory to medical professionals warning them not to purchase or implant, and to remove from their inventory all Synovo Total Hip Systems because the devices have been substantially modified since their initial 1991 approval. The gathering storm of Synovo hip failure lawsuits is only a part of the larger picture of hip implant litigation that now also involves devices manufactured by Exactech, Smith & Nephew, Stryker, and Zimmer.

Baltimore, MD On February 1, 2022, the District Court of Maryland ordered Bicallis LLC and its owner, Bryan Hill to restore missing contributions to the Bicallis 401(k) Plan. Bicallis was a Baltimore-based logistics, engineering and management support services company with 25 employees. The contributions were owed to the pension plan under the law and the express terms of the plan.

Trenton, NJ On March 27, District Court Judge Michael Shipp issued a brief order that permits J&J to contest scientific evidence linking talc products to ovarian cancer. The ruling could seriously disrupt the 53,796 talcum powder lawsuits that have been consolidated in the District Court for the District of New Jersey. The order cites recent changes in the law and new scientific evidence. The changes in law – specifically the federal rules governing expert witnesses -- may have a significant impact on class action lawsuits in general.

Brooklyn, NY As of March 2024, 1,244 defective, ankle, knee and hip implant lawsuits were pending in multidistrict litigation in the Eastern District of New York. Although no trials or settlements have yet occurred, some speculate that individual hip plaintiffs may ultimately expect to recover as much as $300,000.

Pittsburgh, PA On February 5, the Western District of Pennsylvania issued a Temporary Restraining Order barring RiversEdge Advanced Retirement Systems, LLC and Paul Palguta, the company’s sole owner and president, from accessing the assets of various ERISA retirement plans. The Department of Labor has accused the third-party administrator of misappropriating and misallocating retirement plan assets from seventeen retirement plans, fourteen of which were covered by ERISA. The defendants also are alleged to have transferred assets among the trust accounts for these plans and generated false records to conceal these transfers. The fraudulent information provided to the plans duped them into filing false reports with the DOL, which further frustrated discovery of the embezzlement.

Trenton, NJ Until mid-2023, the Johnson & Johnson talcum powder cancer lawsuits consolidated in the District Court of New Jersey have been essentially frozen in place, while the Third Circuit Court of Appeals evaluated J&J’s bankruptcy petitions. The stay involved a complicated bankruptcy scheme, commonly known as the “Texas two-step,” which would have permitted J&J to limit its financial liability by shifting the cancer claims to a newly-created, but severely underfunded subsidiary.

Sacramento, CA On November 5, 2024, Californians will choose whether to preserve the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) in its present form or replace it with the proposed California Fair Pay and Employer Accountability Act (FPEAA). Since it became law in 2003, PAGA has been an important element of many California labor lawsuits, and is often understood to function as an important deterrent to employer wage theft. Roughly 5,000 PAGA notices are filed annually.

Brooklyn, NY As of February 2024, more than 1,600 defective hip implant lawsuits were pending in multidistrict litigation before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. A status conference has been set for March 13, 2024, at which time the parties will discuss the status of the litigation, unresolved discovery matters and the selection of bellwether cases.

San Francisco, CA In February 2022, the United States Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari filed by the petitioner in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association v. The California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program (CalSavers). The denial kept in place a decision of the Ninth Circuit that permitted a California-sponsored and administered retirement plan for employees of small businesses.

Trenton, NJ Johnson & Johnson has reportedly agreed to pay $700 million to settle talcum powder lawsuits brought by 42 states. These state lawsuits allege that the company wrongfully marketed a product that it either knew or had reason to know was dangerous to human health.