Federal district court judge Dana Sabraw on Friday refused to certify a proposed class of 60,000 California home-loan borrowers who were allegedly misled by Countrywide's sales and marketing practices. Relying on the same reasoning that he used when rejecting a larger class in October, Sabraw ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to meet the commonality test in the U.S. Supreme Court's Dukes decision.

For years U.S. District Judge Harold Baer in Manhattan has been using his power to appoint plaintiffs counsel as a means to cajole lawyers to find more women and minorities to lead class action lawsuits. Now another New York judge has followed his lead in a suit against Bayer AG.

Cite as: In re: Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 10-2378-bk, NYLJ 1202511400493, at *1 (2d Cir., Decided August 16, 2011)Before: Jacobs, Chief

The first time around, Andrew McCarrell won a $2.7 million verdict against the drug company, which he claimed was responsible for causing his debilitating bowel disease. Roche succeeded in overturning the verdict--only to get hit with a much, much worse result.

For the third time in recent years, a Missouri state court jury has hit Premium Standard Farms with a multimillion-dollar verdict, finding the odor of its hog farms is a public nuisance. Premium Standard, meanwhile, says it doesn't smell anything--and is threatening economic consequences for neighborhoods where it's not welcome.