Critical Mass Law.com Amanda Bronstad Monsanto Roundup $412 million New Jersey Supreme Court expert evidence Seventh Circuit [email protected] @abronstadlaw.

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A Big Ask in the Roundup Trial

Monsanto Roundup $412 million verdict covered closing arguments R. Brent Wisner Baum Hedlund George Lombardi Winston & Strawn Courtroom View Network broadcast 40 years of studies and regulatory reviews no link $39 million in compensatory damages $373 million in punitive damages So how did he come up with that figure? $2.2 million in economic expenses $62 million each year in interest six years

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A Slam Dunk for Daubert

New Jersey Supreme Court 2,100 lawsuits Accutane The court's answer? here Bruce Greenberg Lite DePalma David Buchanan Seeger Weiss Hoffmann-La Roche Paul Schmidt Covington & Burling Daubert Edward Fanning McCarter & English “The perception that New Jersey law on expert admissibility standards was weaker than the Daubert standard, combined with New Jersey being home to so many pharmaceutical and medical technology companies, had made this state a magnet for mass tort litigation. This landmark decision sends a clear message that our trial courts need to apply much more scrutiny to questions of expert admissibility.”

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Class Notes

Richard Posner U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit class action In a pair of rulings attorney fees Aug. 2 ruling objector lawyers dropping their appeals Here Ted Frank Center for Class Action Fairness Southwest Airlines CCAF Melissa Holyoak July 27 ruling here Here's why it's important Loeb & Loeb Laura McNally “This ruling strikes a blow against attorney's fee gamesmanship in class actions. Class counsel have long been obtaining high fees based on a percentage of a hypothetical maximum claim payout, knowing that in all reality, the number of actual claims will never approach that maximum claim payout. This structure has allowed class counsel to obtain a third or more of a fantastical extra-large pie, knowing full well that the true pie will end up being more like the size of a MoonPie.” Fourth Circuit Thumbs Its Nose at Posner and His Fight for Pro Se Justice

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Who Got the Work?

Hughes Hubbard & Reed Denmark SKAT bid to coordinate 140 lawsuits $2.1 billion tax fraud scheme Sarah Cave U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan William Maguire Marc Weinstein Neil Oxford John McGoey

Here's a little more from the week … ➤ A bushel of fees Syngenta $1.5 billion $500 million won't be enough to go around Mikal Watts Watts Guerra Lead plaintiffs lawyers Watts was quick to point out ➤ Razorback Review Arkansas legislature $4.1 million referral payment State Street Gerald Rosen Labaton Sucharow Arkansas pension fund ➤ Unlucky Number U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation 13 cases to consider hearing in Santa Fe only in three cases denied more requests raised more questions American Bar Association here Merck Zostavax here
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