A selection of the need-to-know civil justice news for the week of May 31-June 6.
Pella Class-Action Settlement Is So Bad Court Tosses Lawyer — And His Father-In-Law Lead Plaintiff
Daniel Fisher | Forbes
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected, in scathing terms, a class-action settlement over Pella windows that was engineered by a lawyer who inserted his father-in-law as a named plaintiff and negotiated a $2 million advance on his fee before his other clients even knew the case had been settled.
Governor Renominates 12 Judges In Trial Courts in Six N.J. Counties
Michael Booth | New Jersey Law Journal
Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday renominated 12 sitting N.J. Superior Court judges for tenure.
Four are from Ocean County, two each from Monmouth, Morris and Somerset counties, and one each from Burlington and Hudson counties.
Chicago Accuses Drug Companies of Pushing Opioids
Andrew Harris | Bloomberg
Chicago, the third-biggest U.S. city, sued Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and four other drug companies for allegedly pushing consumer use of opioid painkillers, creating addicts and driving up its costs.
Drumming Drama: Court Lets Neighbor Sue Over Teenage Boy’s Playing
Louis C. Hochman | NJ.com
Joanne Traetto says her neighbor’s son’s drumming is so loud, so constant, so incessant, she’s had to get therapy because of the anxiety it causes. And an appellate court is giving her the chance to make the case he should have to stop.
Payback Time: First Patent Troll Ordered to Pay “Extraordinary Case” Fees
Joe Mullin | ars technical
When Santa Barbara startup FindTheBest (FTB) was sued by a patent troll called Lumen View last year, it vowed to fight back rather than pay up the $50,000 licensing fee Lumen was asking for. Company CEO Kevin O’Connor made it personal, pledging $1 million of his own money to fight the legal battle.
Honeywell Hit With $10.9M Verdict In Asbestos Suit
Igor Kossov | Law360
Two law firms fighting Honeywell International Inc. in an asbestos suit on Monday said that a Fresno jury of the California Superior Court awarded $10.9 million in damages to the family of a man who allegedly died from mesothelioma caused by a Honeywell unit’s automotive products.
N.J. Supreme Court Will Decide if Watchdogs Can Be Whistleblowers
Mary Pat Gallagher | New Jersey Law Journal
A New Jersey Supreme Court case that promises to have a major impact on the scope of whistleblower protection in the state has drawn participation from both sides of the employment bar.
Six amicus motions have been filed over the last few days in Lippman v. Ethicon, which will resolve whether “watchdog employees”—those responsible for monitoring and reporting on employer compliance with the law—can seek whistleblower protection under the Conscientious Employee Protection Act and, if so, under what circumstances.
Christie’s Chief of Staff May Soon be Considered as NJ Attorney General
Brent Johnson | The Star-Ledger
Kevin O’Dowd, Gov. Chris Christie’s chief of staff, may finally be considered for the job as New Jersey’s next attorney general depending on the outcome of his testimony Monday before the state legislative committee investigating the George Washington Bridge scandal, a top state lawmaker said today.
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