Mass Tort Journal

All Access
ALSO SEE

Does Off-Label Promotion Settlement Signal Change in FDA Policy?

Litigation
Legal Newsline |

Fourth Circuit Rules that CGL Policies Can Cover Defense of Data Breaches Cases

While a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruling on a data breach insurance case was presented in a way that limits its impact, it's still a significant win for the insured, a Los Angeles attorney says.


"While the decision may not dramatically shift the playing field for data breach coverage, it still is a significant victory for policyholders because it shows that there can be coverage for inadvertent disclosure of confidential information under a CGL policy," said Ken Kronstadt, an attorney in the insurance recovery group of the law firm Kelley, Drye, and Warren.


Earlier this month, the Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court's ruling in the case of Travelers Indemnity Co. of America v. Portal Healthcare Soultions LLC. Portal, which had a commercial general liability insurance policy with Travelers, believed that policy should cover the costs of its legal defenses after a data breach at the company.

Litigation
National Law Journal |

Wood Pulp Filler Leads to Class Action Against Companies Selling ‘100% Parmesan Cheese’

Nearly 45 lawsuits have been filed alleging that four brands labeled “100% Grated Parmesan Cheese” including Kraft and Wal-Mart’s private brand fail to tell consumers that they actually contain fillers made from wood pulp.


The lawsuits, all class actions, allege that the products are mislabeled because they contain additives such as cellulose, which is an anti-clumping agent made from wood pulp. The suits bring claims under several state consumer laws, common laws and the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.


“In a nutshell, a number of retailers are selling parmesan cheese with the misrepresentation that it’s 100 percent parmesan cheese when in fact it is not,” said John Driscoll of The Driscoll Firm in St. Louis, who filed a Feb. 29 motion before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to transfer all the cases to the Eastern District of Missouri. Plaintiffs attorneys Todd Garber and Greg Blankinship, partners at Finkelstein, Blankinship, Frei-Pearson & Garber in White Plains, New York, have filed competing motions on March 4 to transfer the litigation to the Southern District of New York.l

Litigation
FDA Law Blog |
serggn-istock-thinkstock

FDA Action on Off-Label Promotion Expected to Continue Despite Recent Court Challenges

Does FDA’s Per Se Prohibition Against Off-Label Promotion Have a Future?


The short answer to that question is “No,” says Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C.’s Jeffrey K. Shapiro in an article published in the March/April 2016 issue of the Food and Drug Law Institute’s Update Magazine. Mr. Shapiro examines the Department of Justice’s recent criminal prosecution of Vascular Solutions, Inc. (“VSI”), which ended with a unanimous jury acquittal for VSI and its chief executive officer of, among other things, misbranding products due to off-label promotion.


“[Z]ombielike, FDA/DOJ continue to pursue truthful and non-misleading off-label promotion as if it were per se a crime,” writes Mr. Shapiro. “Absent an unlikely U-turn at the Supreme Court, the federal courts likely will continue to find that FDA’s prohibition against truthful and non-misleading off-label promotion is inconsistent with the First Amendment. However, FDA’s Warning Letters and DOJ enforcement actions could continue for years before enough case law accumulates to force real change, with some companies and individuals choosing to settle rather than risk overwhelming punishment.”

Litigation

Amazon Liable for Kids Making In-App Purchases Without Parents’ Permission

Amazon.com Inc is liable for billing parents for in-app purchases that their children made without permission, a federal judge has judge has decided, in a ruling that resolves accusations similar to ones that Apple Inc and Google Inc settled two years ago.


Amazon.com Inc is liable for billing parents for in-app purchases that their children made without permission, a federal judge has judge has decided, in a ruling that resolves accusations similar to ones that Apple Inc and Google Inc settled two years ago.


"The millions of dollars billed to Amazon customers without a mechanism for consent, the thousands of customers complaining about unauthorized charges, and the time spent seeking refunds for those charges, all demonstrate substantial injury," he wrote.


FTC data analyst Julie Miller estimated that Amazon had made $86 million from the in-app purchases and refunded $10 million. She estimated that fully 42 percent of the total purchases were unauthorized, the judge said. The judge said he believed that number could be "inflated" and asked for a further briefing.

Litigation
Corporate Crime Reporter |

VW Reneges on Promise to Release Report on Diesel-gate Investigation

Earlier this year, Volkswagen said it would make public its investigation into the diesel defeat device scandal.


VW now says the report won’t be made public.


The German automaker hired Jones Day to conduct the investigation and VW says that “this investigation is already far advanced and is being pursued intensely.”

Litigation
USA Today |

Snapchat Sued Following Accident Caused by Teen Driver Using the App

A Georgia man claims the car accident that left him with permanent brain damage was caused by a teen too busy taking selfies to pay attention to the road, NBC News reports. Now he's suing the teen, Christal McGee, and Snapchat. The lawsuit filed this month claims McGee was using Snapchat's speed filter at the time of the crash last September.


As the New York Daily News explains, the filter adds a user's speed to their photo, and Snapchat awards them with a "trophy" for posting how fast they were going.