MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT TO CONSIDER INACTIVE ASBESTOS
DOCKET.
The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to consider addressing its
backlog of asbestos claims by adopting an "inactive docket" to
preserve the claims of workers who don't yet show any symptoms . . .
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHDIOCESE COMPLETES SETTLEMENT.
Lawyers for 552 individuals who brought sexual abuse claims against
the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston have completed a $85 million
settlement agreement calling for plaintiffs to receive from . . .
AMA'S PALMISANO: SENATE HAS TO CHANGE TO WIN MEDMAL
REFORM.
Medical malpractice reform is not going to happen at the federal
level until the Senate has different members, Dr. Donald Palmisano,
president of the American Medical Association, said Sept. 22.
. . .
HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS SUE INSURANCE CLAIMS PANEL.
Two survivors of World War II Nazi-concentration camps filed a
lawsuit Sept. 25 against the International Commission of Holocaust-Era
Insurance Claims, alleging the panel conspired with insurers to . . .
HATCH SCHEDULES JUDICIARY VOTE ON PICKERING NOMINATION.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) has placed the
nomination of U.S. District Judge Charles Pickering to the Fifth U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals on the committee's agenda for action.
. . .
PLAINTIFFS' BAR CALLED BEHEMOTH INDUSTRY: TRIAL LAWYERS
INC.
The Manhattan Institute's Center for Legal Policy issued a
report last week depicting the plaintiffs' bar as a corporation
that rakes in almost $40 billion per year in revenues.
"Led by novel . . .
GRASSLEY: CLASS ACTION BILL TO MOVE AFTER CONGRESSIONAL
RECESS.
The Senate Republican leadership will bring up the class action
bill when Congress returns from its October recess, Charles E. Grassley
(R-IA) said Sept. 22.
"Hopefully we'll round up 60 votes to . . .
BUSH & FRIST PRESS FOR MEDICARE DRUG BILL COMPROMISE BY OCT.
17.
President Bush signaled the Republican leadership Sept. 25 to end
the stalemate in the Medicare prescription drug bill conference, telling
Republican conservatives the $400 billion price tag over . . .
HOUSE PANEL WEIGHS STATUTORY CAPS ON PUNITIVE DAMAGES.
The House Judiciary Committee's Constitution subcommittee took
up the question of whether to follow up recent U.S. Supreme Court
decisions by imposing statutory limits on punitive damages Sept. . . .
CALIFORNIA SMOKER'S $25 MILLION VERDICT CUT BY MORE THAN
HALF.
Citing the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling this year in State Farm
v. Campbell, a California appellate court has ordered a lung cancer
victim's
$25 million award of punitive damages against Philip . . .
WATCH ON THE MEDIA.
The New York Times provided an update Sept. 16 on a case now before
the New Mexico Supreme Court pitting two anthropologists over the work
of Carlos Casteneda, whose books about self-discovery . . .
PENNSYLVANIA: U.S. COURT HEARS ALLSTATE AGENTS CASE.
U.S. District Judge John Fullam of Philadelphia is hearing
arguments in lawsuits brought by former Allstate agents and the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging the . . .
NORTH CAROLINA SENATE MOVES MEDMAL BILL.
The North Carolina Senate approved a medical malpractice bill Sept.
16 that would require a panel of experts to provide advice to jurors on
whether malpractice occurred.
The review would take . . .
MINNESOTA: U.S. JUDGE DENIES CLASS ACTION IN BAYCOL SUIT.
U.S. District Judge Michael Davis of Minneapolis denied
class-action status to several thousand lawsuits against German
pharmaceutical maker Bayer over its anticholesterol drug Baycol, ruling
the . . .
MINNESOTA HMOs' CLAIM AGAINST TOBACCO IS REVIVED.
Minnesota health maintenance organizations cannot show evidence of
damages they suffered from tobacco companies' efforts to mislead
the public, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Sept. . . .
ILLINOIS SUPREME COURT AGREES TO HEAR PHILIP MORRIS
APPEAL.
The Illinois Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by Philip
Morris USA of a state court's award of $10.1 billion in damages in
a class action accusing the tobacco company of misleading . . .
HURRICANE ISABEL MAY COST INSURERS $1 BILLION.
U.S. insurers are likely to pay out close to $1 billion claims as a
result of Hurricane Isabel, the Insurance Information Institute
estimated Sept. 19.
The storm, which had been a Category 5 . . .
SEVENTH CIRCUIT DECLINES TO HEAR XEROX PENSION PLAN
APPEAL.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals refused Sept. 15 to reconsider
a lower court's decision finding Xerox had paid out too little to
former employees under its cash-balance pension plan.
Xerox . . .
CHAMBER STUDY: HEALTH CARE COSTS OF TOP CONCERN TO WOMEN.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a survey Sept. 17 showing
female business owners are most concerned about rising health care
costs, which they think could go up by 18 percent to 20 percent in . . .
SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE MOVES TO LIMIT COLI BENEFITS.
The Senate Finance Committee approved an amendment Sept. 17 to
limit tax breaks for certain types of corporate-owned life insurance.
The amendment, offered by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) during . . .
|
|