Daniel Fisher News
Trump DOJ punishes hedge fund manager who sued drug companies and shorted their stocks
The Trump Justice Department, following a tougher policy toward dubious False Claims Act lawsuits by private citizens, has moved to dismiss a pair of lawsuits by a former hedge-fund manager who shorted stock in pharmaceutical companies he accused of a wide-ranging price-fixing conspiracy.
Trump DOJ acts on threat to trial lawyers who sue on behalf of the government
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The Department of Justice's recent effort to toss lawsuits it says it wasted hundreds of hours investigating is emblematic of a strategy under President Donald Trump to rein in trial lawyers who are using a federal whistleblower law to seek millions of dollars.
Opioid plaintiffs: A small percentage of pill shipments were 'suspicious.' Or maybe it's nearly all of them
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - Forced to identify opioid prescriptions they say were “suspicious” and never should have been shipped, Ohio cities and counties came up with a rough estimate. Very rough.
Trial lawyers find unusual allies in fight against arbitration: Conservative state treasurers
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - Class action lawyers who see arbitration as a mortal threat to their business have found unlikely allies among some of the nation’s most conservative state officials.
Money for nothing: SCOTUS could stop class action funds from being steered to non-parties
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday in a case that could end cy pres, the practice of steering money in class action settlements to organizations with absolutely no connection to the underlying lawsuit.
Time running out for lawyers suing opioid industry to show specific proof
The judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against the opioid industry has given plaintiffs a stark choice on a tight deadline: Hand over evidence of specific prescriptions they believe were improper or lose the right to present such evidence forever.
Facing complaints of excessive fees, Texas counties release billing records of their opioid lawyers for free
Texas counties that demanded tens of thousands of dollars to provide billing records from outside attorneys representing them in opioid lawsuits have mostly agreed to hand them over for free
Trump admin makes use of Medicare law in blunt warning to asbestos lawyers
In the Trump administration, at least, the government will no longer look the other way as asbestos lawyers negotiate lenient terms that make it easy for their current clients to get money at the expense of future claimants and federal entitlement programs.
Want to know what opioid lawyers are up to in Texas? It costs thousands to find out
Some Texas counties are demanding tens of thousands of dollars to comply with open-records requests for documents detailing the time and expenses private attorneys have racked up so far representing them in opioid litigation.
Lawyers for Texas counties in opioid cases may not have valid contracts
Some lawyers and Texas counties who have teamed to sue the opioid industry have not received the required approval from a state official.
Judge sees litigation as only an `aid in settlement discussions’ for opioid lawsuits
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - The judge overseeing hundreds of lawsuits against the opioid industry that have been consolidated in federal court said some trials may occur but that litigation is “not a substitute or replacement” for his preferred goal of a comprehensive settlement.
Judge in massive opioid case watching plaintiff lawyer spending, orders them to fly coach
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - The judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against the opioid industry ordered plaintiffs’ attorneys to keep monthly records of the time they spend on their cases down to a tenth of an hour and imposed strict rules on who can collect fees, in an effort to prevent the excesses that have drawn criticism in other class actions and mass tort cases.
N.Y. opioid litigation won't be stayed; Lawyers seeking 1,000 more county-plaintiffs
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - A New York judge has refused to stay lawsuits by a number of New York counties against opioid manufacturers and distributors, rejecting arguments that the Food and Drug Administration hasn’t yet determined whether narcotic painkillers are unnecessarily dangerous - a central question in any litigation.
Plaintiff lawyers see nationwide settlement as only end for opioid lawsuits
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - Plaintiff lawyers meeting in San Francisco last week for a conference on opioid litigation acknowledged that the hundreds of lawsuits they have filed in state and federal court will be difficult to resolve without an unprecedented national settlement whose mechanics are still difficult to predict.
Usual Suspects: Lawyers used to getting their way in MDL process to lead opioid litigation
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - There will be a lot of familiar faces in U.S. District Judge Dan Polster’s courtroom in Cleveland on Jan. 31, when lawyers gather for a hearing on multidistrict litigation against the nation’s opioid manufacturers and distributors.