Courthouse News Service; January 14, 2014

BROOKLYN (CN) - Neiman Marcus waited for weeks to tell its customers their credit and debit card information may have been stolen, a class action claims in Federal Court.
Lead plaintiff Melissa Frank claims her debit card information was stolen in December and fraudulent charges were run up on it-but Neiman Marcus did not tell its customers about the hack attack until Jan. 10.
And, as in the well-publicized Target fiasco , Neiman Marcus did not publicize the attack, but a blogger was the first to alert the public, Frank says in the lawsuit.

Courthouse News Service; January 14, 2014

CHICAGO (CN) - State Farm wants no part in defending a public defender who allegedly jumped on a prosecutor's back, twisted his neck, slammed him to the ground and sat on him.
State Farm Fire & Casualty Company sued Henry Hams and Michael McCormick in Cook County Court.
The insurer claims policy exclusions allow it to bow out of the affair that began 3½ years ago between Hams, a Cook County public defender, and McCormick, an assistant state's attorney.

ABC News; January 14, 2014

A retired Tampa police captain is expected to appear in court later today, accused of fatally shooting a man and injuring his wife during an argument over cellphone texting in front of horrified moviegoers.

"Someone throws popcorn," eyewitness Charles Cummings said Monday after the shooting inside the theater, according to ABC News Radio. "I'm not sure who threw the popcorn and then bang, he was shot. He staggered two seats over and fell on my son and I.

"The guy who was shot said something; 'I just was texting my … three-year-old daughter,'" Cummings added.

To read the complete article and watch a video report, please click here: abcnews.go.com.

Courthouse News Service; January 13, 2014

WASHINGTON (CN) - The Supreme Court battle over college athletes' image rights may be over before it even started after the justices rejected key motions Monday.
Brewing since 2009, the case at hand involves a group of former student-athletes challenging the National Collegiate Athletic Association's use of their images in video games, merchandise and other promotional materials.
Former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon filed the first complaint in the case, alleging that the NCAA violated his and other athletes' right to make money off their likenesses.
The NCAA's licensing arm, Collegiate Licensing Co., and the video game company Electronic Arts were also named as defendants.

Lawyersandsettlements.com; January 13, 2014

Toronto, Canada: Two drugs have recently been linked to a potentially fatal condition known as Stevens Johnson Syndrome. One of the drugs, capecitabine, was linked to SJS in a letter by Hoffman-La Roche and Health Canada (similar to the US Food and Drug Administration) following reports by the drug’s maker that Stevens Johnson syndrome symptoms had been seen in patients using the drug.

Capecitabine (Xeloda) is a drug used to treat certain cancers. In a Dear Healthcare Professional letter dated December 3, 2013, and sent out by the drug’s maker Hoffman-La Roche, with an endorsement by Health Canada, the pharmaceutical company noted that “very rare cases of severe cutaneous reactions such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN), in some cases with fatal outcome, have been reported during treatment with XELODA.”

To read the complete article, please click here: lawyersandsettlements.com.

News Inferno; January 8, 2014

An Associated Press (AP) investigation has confirmed complaints about well-water contamination from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and other oil and gas drilling in four states.

The boom in hydraulic fracturing in the last ten years has produced an accompanying increase in concern about water contamination and other forms of pollution. The AP examined data on drilling-related water-contamination complaints in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Texas, states with numerous fracking sites, Aljazeera America reports.

To read the complete article, please click here: newsinferno.com.

News Inferno; January 13, 2014

Freedom Industries, Inc., the West Virginia chemical company responsible for the January 9th chemical spill that contaminated the water in nine counties, has been named as a defendant, along with West Virginia American Water Company, in a class action lawsuit by businesses affected by the spill.

The suit was filed on January 10 in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia (Civil Action No. 14C55). According to the lawsuit, businesses located along the Elk River, were subjected to toxic water when the hazardous substance, 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, spilled into the river. The chemical is used in coal processing. The “Material Safety Data Sheet” for 4-methylcyclohexane methanol indicates that it is harmful if swallowed and can cause irritation to the skin and eyes.

To read the complete article, please click here: newsinferno.com.

It’s almost here!  The third annual Trial Lawyers Summit begins this Sunday, January 19 at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel and continues through Wednesday, January 22.  We hope you’ve made plans to join us at what promises to be our biggest and best Summit ever!  For more information or to register, go to the NTL Summit website.  For a schedule of events, go to the NTL Summit Agenda.  For conference materials and information, go to the NTL Summit Conference Materials page.  Please note that if you’re planning to bring a guest, you must register and pay for them. No guests will be admitted to events without a badge. Please call our office to register your guest (866)665-2852.

The Trial Lawyers Summit provides great networking opportunities, even if you don't need the CLEs.  There are last minute, limited on site opportunities with full room block and conference capacity.  A small number of rooms have been held for last minute attendees.  Register and reserve your room today!  Only five days remaining until the 2014 Trial Lawyers Summit begins!  We’ll see you at the Summit this Sunday!

Financial Times; January 13, 2014

The US legal market may be out of the doldrums, but a fundamental shift since the financial crisis means its old ways of working must be jettisoned to survive.

Better technology and more sophisticated purchasing of legal services by large companies are squeezing firms’ profit margins across America – the world’s largest legal market – even as the demand for their advice is beginning to increase, the findings of Citigroup and Hildebrandt Consulting’s annual survey of the biggest US firms show.

To read the complete article, please visit Financial Times.

Law360, New York
(January 02, 2014, 8:24 PM ET) -- A California federal judge on Monday upheld a
$2.2 million verdict against Novartis Pharmaceutical Corp.
in a woman's lawsuit over a jaw injury allegedly caused by the bone drugs
Aredia and Zometa, holding the drugmaker had a duty to warn of the risk of
injury.

U.S. District Judge S. James Otero denied Novartis' motion for judgment as a
matter of law as well as a new trial. Plaintiff Adriann Georges sufficiently
showed that Novartis had a duty to warn her of the jaw injury risk and that her
injury was caused both by her use of the drugs and the drugmaker's failure to
warn, according to the judge.

To read the complete article, please click here: law360.com.

Courthouse News Service; December 31, 2013

A mother sued the Oakland Children's Hospital to stop it from pulling the plug on her daughter, whose chief of pediatrics, the mother claims, said her daughter is "dead, dead, dead."
Latasha Winkfield sued Children's Hospital Oakland and Dr. David Durand in Federal Court.
Winkfield's daughter, Jahi McMath, 13, lost a large amount of blood, suffered a heart attack and loss of oxygen to her brain after "a routine tonsillectomy" at the hospital on Dec. 9, the mother says in the lawsuit.
Jahi has been on a respirator since then. "She is totally disabled at this time and is severely limited in all major life activities, being unable to do anything of her own volition," her mother says in the lawsuit.

News Inferno; December 30, 2013

A California woman’s medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Julio Gabriel Diaz – called “the candy man” – claims his over-prescribing of  powerful pain medications got her addicted to drugs. The doctor is accused of causing 11 overdose deaths.

Courtney Canter’s lawsuit, filed in Santa Barbara Superior court, names Walgreens, CVS Caremark and Long’s Drug Stores, in addition to Dr. Diaz, United Press International (UPI) reports. Diaz was arrested on federal drug trafficking charges in early 2012 and on September 24, 2013 he pled guilty to illegally prescribing a controlled substance, failure to maintain proper security and storage, and two counts of illegally prescribing a narcotic.

In a 75-page arrest affidavit, Diaz’s dangerous prescribing practices are described in great detail. The affidavit identifies 11 overdose deaths of patients under Diaz’s care. Diaz, according to UPI, is a drug-dealing doctor, known to patients as “the candy man.” The most recent overdose death attributed to Diaz occurred in November 2011. Diaz allegedly prescribed 2,087 pills to the patient in the six-week period prior to his death. Diaz is also accused of trading pills for sex.

To read the complete article, please click here: newsinferno.com.

CNN; December 31, 2013

Not everyone subscribes to a New Year's resolution, but Americans will be required to follow new laws in 2014.

Some 40,000 measures taking effect range from sweeping, national mandates under Obamacare to marijuana legalization in Colorado, drone prohibition in Illinois and transgender protections in California.

Although many new laws are controversial, they made it through legislatures, public referendum or city councils and represent the shifting composition of American beliefs.

The biggest and most politically charged change comes at the federal level with the imposition of a new fee for those adults without health insurance.

For 2014, the penalty is either $95 per adult or 1% of family income, whichever results in a larger fine.

To read the complete article, please visit cnn.com.

Bloomberg Businessweek; December 27, 2013

Retailers, the FBI has a message for you: Watch out for fraudsters armed with aluminum foil climbing on your roofs.

The agency says thieves have used a convoluted scheme to steal electronics and cigarettes from gas stations and other stores in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvannia, and West Virginia.

Here’s how the theft goes down. First, someone climbs onto the roof of a store and uses aluminum foil to block the satellite antenna that the store uses to receive data from credit card companies to authorize sales—a gadget called a feed horn that looks like this.

Video: Credit Card Breach Puts Target in Legal Crosshairs

With the signal blocked, stores can’t validate credit and debit card transactions. That opens the door, so to speak, for bandits to enter the store, load up their carts with electronics or cigarettes, and pay with stolen credit cards. Retailers often permit sales even if the link with the credit card company is down, figuring the transactions will go through once the connection is back up.

To read the complete article, please click here: businessweek.com.