Law, Strategy, and Risk in Commercial Disputes
The Second Circuit last week prescribed death for a class action alleging that Eli Lilly and Company fooled doctors into treating patients with Lily's anti-schizophrenia drug Zyprexa.
The plaintiffs — unions and others that pay all or part of patients' pharmaceutical bills — alleged that Lilly violated the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by hiding and misrepresenting…
The Seventh Circuit struck a blow last month for certifying securities fraud cases as class actions — and against the Fifth Circuit's attempt, the panel believed, "to 'tighten the requirements' for class certification" in such cases.
The court held the district court did right by rejecting the defendants' "arguments that if accepted would end the use…
The Third Circuit has ordered rehearing by the full court in a sprawling antitrust case against price-fixer and market-allocator DeBeers.
The order vacated a panel decision that mainly upheld denial of class certification. Blawgletter did a short review of the decision in Third Circuit Cuts Global Diamond Class. There we said:
DeBeers, the diamond behemoth,
…
Seldom does Blawgletter get the pleasure of reading an Intriguing and Forceful Analysis of a recent and important court of appeals decision. Our dear friend Sam Simon blessed us with his views about In re Ins. Brokerage Antitrust Litig., No. 07-4046 (3d Cir. Aug. 16, 2010) (post here), today. And, with his kind…
The Third Circuit came out last week with a 200-page rumination on the post-Twombly plausibility of conspiracies under section 1 of the Sherman Act (and the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act). In re Ins. Brokerage Antitrust Litig., No. 07-4046 (3d Cir. Aug. 16, 2010).
The court upheld dismissal of hub-and-spoke conspiracy claims that…
Whether to treat a securities fraud case on a class basis often turns on whether the court may presume that class members relied on false statements or omissions by the defendants.
The most common form of presumption — the fraud on the market theory – won the Supreme Court's okay in Basic, Inc. v. Levinson, 485…
British Petroleum now faces a two-front litigation war.
Yesterday, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation sent to the U.S. district court in New Orleans dozens of cases alleging personal injury, wrongful death, property damage, and other economic loss resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf …
Today the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered centralization of cases relating to the oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico from the offshore rig Deepwater Horizon to the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans. U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier will oversee the sprawling MDL proceedings.
The Panel's order provides:
IN RE:
…
Blawgletter got back this morning (around 3:00 a.m.) from our first-ever trip to Boise. We saw a Great Many lawyers.
We and they had come to watch, and some of us to present, argument about what the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation should do with big cases.
In re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the…
The Supreme Court of California ruled last week that the Golden State's antitrust statute, the Cartwright Act, allows an award of overcharge damages to people who don't buy directly from a price-fixer. Clayworth v. Pfizer, Inc., No. S166435 (Cal. July 12, 2010).
The case involved pharmacies that alleged price-fixing by drug manufacturers. The…