The mainstream news media reports this morning that Merck & Co. has unveiled a settlement potentially covering 27,000 VIOXX lawsuits. A company press release details the $4.85 billion plan.
Barry Barnett
Vonage in Settlement Zonage
Quote of the Day: Alexis de Tocqueville
Tocqueville wrote in chapter 16 of his Democracy in America (1835):
The people in democratic states do not mistrust the members of the legal profession, because it is known that they are interested to serve the popular cause; and the people listen to them without irritation, because they do not attribute to them any sinister
No Deference on Patent Incorporation by Reference
Blawgletter rejoices once again today in the reconditude, the complexity, the obscurantism of patent law. For which we thank the Federal Circuit, which held 2-1 that a less-than-pellucid incorporation by reference of an invention in a "grandparent" patent doomed its "grandchild" to the graveyard of invalidity by anticipation. The dissenter scalded his colleagues for ignoring
Court Affirms Refusal to Order Recusal
If you want to know how much federal appellate courts hate to second-guess federal trial judges’ decisions on whether to recuse themselves, take a look at Scenic Holding, LLC v. The New Board of Trustees of the Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, Inc., No. 06-2934 (8th Cir. Nov. 6, 2007) (available at www.ca8.uscourts.gov). The
Quote of the Day: William Butler Yeats
The great Irish poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939).
Yeats wrote The Second Coming just after the Great War, in 1919:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The
Visa to Pay Amex $2.25 Billion to Settle Antitrust Case
$2,250,000,000 = one extra spicy meatball.
CNBC reports that Visa tentatively agreed to pay American Express $2.25 billion to settle claim that Visa and MasterCard violated the Sherman Act by colluding to prohibit their respective member banks from issuing American Express cards. The pact calls for Visa to pay half now and half over three
Does Banning Compulsory Arbitration Promote Lawsuits?
The WSJ opines today that bills in Congress would support "more class-action lawsuits" by banning arbitration clauses in consumer contracts. Sorry, but Blawgletter just doesn’t see the argument.
Lawyers who represent consumers like arbitration — for disputes that involve enough money to justify the expense. But lots of companies try to put a double-whammy on
Fifth Circuit Kicks “High-Low” Issues
The Fifth Circuit today stuck with decisions against homeowner insurance coverage for storm surge damage from Hurricane Katrina. That left issues regarding the burden of proof on "open peril" and "named peril" coverage issues. But the parties entered into a "High-Low Agreement" during the appeal, guaranteeing the plaintiffs a minimum payment if they lost and
Open Letter: U.S. Should Support Pakistani Lawyers and Rule of Law
General Musharraf ordered his forces to beat and jail protesting lawyers.
Blawgletter can’t recall writing an open letter before, but the courageousness of judges and lawyers in Pakistan impelled us to compose our first.
To President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Attorney General-Elect Michael B. Mukasey:
In the British Empire’s American