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☆ Hair relaxer claims against L'Oreal, Revlon can proceed -U.S. judge
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Diana Novak Jones | Companies Need To Integrate Climate Reporting Across Functions To Comply With California S New Law | Henry Engler | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Lawrence Bryant/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 13 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday allowed the majority of claims to move forward in sprawling litigation that claims chemical hair relaxer products made by L'Oreal USA, Revlon and others cause cancer and other injuries. Illinois-based U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland denied most of the companies’ arguments in their motion to dismiss the complaint in the multidistrict litigation over the products. The products, which include chemicals to permanently straighten textured hair, are typically marketed to women of color. Representatives for L’Oreal (OREP.PA) and Revlon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a statement posted online after the first lawsuits were filed, L'Oreal said it was "confident in the safety of our products and believe the recent lawsuits filed against us have no legal merit."

Persons: Sheila Bush, Lawrence Bryant, Mary Rowland, Rowland, Jennifer Hoekstra, Diana Jones, Leigh Jones, Lincoln Organizations: REUTERS, L'Oreal USA, Revlon, District, National Institutes of Health, L’Oreal, L'Oreal, Reuters, Thomson Locations: St, Louis , Missouri, U.S, Illinois, India

☆ Thousands of Black women claim hair relaxers gave them cancer
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Reuters Graphic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

Some of the ads show Black women applying hair products before cutting to a summary of the NIH study’s findings. “We do not believe the science supports a link between chemical hair straighteners or relaxers and cancer,” Revlon said. Lead author White said in a statement in response to Reuters questions that there is currently no strong evidence linking family history of breast cancer to increased risk of uterine cancer. The sisters said they wanted their mother’s death last year following a battle with uterine cancer to mean something. Bush, the St. Louis cosmetologist, joined the litigation in August, she said, because of the possibility that hair relaxers cause cancer.

Persons: Sheila Bush, Bush, Revlon’s, ” Revlon, L’Oreal, ”, Ben Crump, George Floyd, Diandra, ” Debrosse Zimmerman, Jenny Mitchell, Crump, “ it’s, ” Crump, Louis, Jayne Conroy, don’t, Adam Zimmerman, Alexandra White, phthalates, White, Weiss, Porter Kaye Scholer, Jennifer Hoekstra, Zimmerman, “, X Ante, Quiana Hester, Ariana, Nakisha, Patrice Hester, Louis cosmetologist, Mike Spector, Richa Naidu, Kristina Cooke, Diana Novak Jones, Eve Watling, Lawrence Bryant, Alicia Powell, Angela Johnston, Lucy Ha, Vanessa O’Connell, Suzanne Goldenberg Organizations: L’Oreal, Revlon, U.S, National Institutes of Health, Reuters, NIH, Supreme, University of Southern California Gould School of Law, U.S . House, American Cancer Society, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, World Health Organization, Paul, Arnold, FDA, USC, Washington DC Locations: Louis, Olive, U.S, India, Minneapolis, Missouri, Chicago, United States, Rifkind, Baltimore, Houston, Washington, San Diego, Bush

The logo of Google LLC is seen at the Google Store Chelsea in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File PhotoCompanies Alphabet Inc FollowWASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Google asked a U.S. appeals court in New York on Tuesday to pause a decision to return an antitrust lawsuit filed by the state of Texas back to federal court in Texas. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in June granted the state's request to send the lawsuit back to federal court in Texas. The lawsuit alleges that Google, a unit of Alphabet (GOOGL.O), abused its dominance in advertising technology. The federal court in Texas has a reputation for moving quickly.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Diane Bartz, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Google, Chelsea, REUTERS, WASHINGTON, The U.S, Litigation, U.S, Circuit, Appeals, Thomson Locations: Manhattan , New York City, U.S, New York, Texas, The, Washington

REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Texas won a round in its antitrust lawsuit with Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google on Thursday after a U.S. judicial panel refused to pause its decision to return its lawsuit to federal court in Texas. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation had decided in June to agree to a Texas request to send the lawsuit alleging Google abused its dominance in advertising technology back to the Lone Star state. Texas has argued that a measure which became law in 2022, after the lawsuit was filed, granted state attorneys general the right to choose where an antitrust lawsuit will be litigated. The judicial panel did agree to stay the remand order for seven days to give Google time to appeal to the 2nd U.S. The Texas lawsuit accuses Google of violating the law by dominating the process that advertisers use to put ads online.

Persons: Charles Platiau, Diane Bartz, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Google, Viva Tech, REUTERS, Texas, The U.S, Multidistrict Litigation, Lone Star, U.S, Circuit, Appeals, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, Texas, The, New York, Eastern

Travis Scott poses. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/File PhotoJune 29 (Reuters) - A Texas grand jury is meeting Thursday to weigh possible criminal charges against rapper Travis Scott and others over a 2021 crowd crush at a musical festival that left 10 dead and injured thousands, Scott’s lawyer confirmed. “Nothing Travis did or failed to do fits within the Texas criminal code,” Schaffer told Reuters. The plaintiffs allege Scott, Live Nation and more than two dozen other defendants let too many people into the venue despite knowing the risks because they wanted the concert to appear packed. The family of one of the people killed settled on undisclosed terms with Scott, Live Nation and others in October 2022.

Persons: Travis Scott, Sarah Meyssonnier, Kent Schaffer, Scott, Travis, ” Schaffer, Robert Hilliard, Jack Queen, Mike Spector, Amy Stevens, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Cannes, Houston, Festival, Reuters, Attorney’s, Prosecutors, Ticketmaster, Thomson Locations: Cannes, France, Texas, Harris, Houston, New York

Companies Alphabet Inc FollowWASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - Texas won the latest round in its antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet's Google on Monday as a U.S. judicial panel ordered the case returned to federal court in Texas. At Google's request the lawsuit had been moved in August 2021 to a federal court in New York, where other advertising technology cases were being heard. Texas had asked for the lawsuit to be moved back after the U.S. Congress passed the Venue Act in 2022 that grants state attorneys general the right to choose where an antitrust lawsuit will be litigated. The Texas lawsuit accuses Google of violating the law by dominating the process that advertisers use to put ads online. And states led by Utah filed a lawsuit in 2021 saying the company broke antitrust law in handling its play store.

Persons: Texas Attorney General's, Karen Caldwell, Diane Bartz, Chris Reese, Mark Porter, Aurora Ellis Organizations: WASHINGTON, Texas, Alphabet's Google, U.S, Congress, Google, Texas Attorney, Multidistrict, Thomson Locations: Texas, New York, The Texas, Utah

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Palo Alto Networks, 3M, Amedisys, Target and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A view of the exterior of the new Dutch head office of international technology company 3M in Delft, Netherlands, November 5, 2014. EPAM Systems — Shares of the software engineering firm tumbled 18% after it cut guidance amid further deterioration in near-term demand. Amedisys — The health care company's shares rallied 14% after it received an unsolicited buyout offer from Optum, a unit of UnitedHealth , to acquire Amedisys for $100 a share in cash. ImmunoGen — The biotechnology company's shares gained 5% after it announced results from ovarian cancer treatment Elahere showing a roughly 35% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death compared to chemotherapy. Dollar General — Shares fell 2.7% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the discount retailer's stock to equal weight from overweight Sunday.

Persons: Dow, Coinbase, Binance, Changpeng Zhao commingled, Robinson, Ford's David Bozeman, Morgan Stanley, KeyBanc, —, Yun Li, Alex Harring, Jesse Pound, Samantha Subin, Brian Evans Organizations: Palo Alto Networks, Dow Jones, Dish Network, 3M, Bloomberg, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Care, Ford, Equitrans Midstream Corporation, Ford Motor Co, Citi, Spotify, Target, Apple —, Developers Conference, Apple Locations: Delft, Netherlands, Optum, Bozeman, U.S, Cupertino , California

Fox will pay $6 million, and CBS, now known as Paramount Global (PARA.O), will pay $5 million, the court filing showed. Representatives for Cox, Fox and CBS either declined to comment or did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Representatives from those defendants either declined to comment on the pending litigation or did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Plaintiffs' attorney Megan Jones at law firm Hausfeld, on Tuesday did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The case is In re: Local TV Advertising Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, No.

Persons: Cox, District Judge Virginia Kendall, schemed, Sinclair, Kendall, Megan Jones, Hausfeld, Freed, Robins Kaplan, Jennifer Giordano, George Cary, Cleary Gottlieb Steen, Nathan Eimer, Eimer Stahl, Weil, Brian Sher, Bryan Cave Leighton, Mike Scarcella, Leigh Jones Organizations: Fox, CBS, Cox Media Group, Fox Corp, CBS Corp, Northern, Northern District of Illinois, Paramount Global, U.S, District Judge, Cox, Sinclair Broadcasting Group Inc, Scripps Company, TEGNA Inc, U.S . Justice Department, Local, Antitrust Litigation, Northern District of, Millen, Latham, Watkins, Hamilton, Thomson Locations: U.S, Northern District, Chicago, Northern District of Illinois

3M and Aearo say the earplug litigation has spiraled out of control. But attorney Adam Silverstein, who represents veterans suing 3M over hearing loss, said at a court hearing in Indianapolis that filing for bankruptcy, like "pulling a fire alarm," should be reserved for urgent threats. Aearo was not in need of emergency rescue, because it had filed for bankruptcy solely as "a strategic alternative to managing 3M's litigation," Silverstein said. Aearo, which made the combat arms earplugs, filed for bankruptcy last July, with 3M pledging $1 billion to fund its liabilities stemming from the lawsuits that accuse both Aearo and 3M of misrepresenting the earplugs' effectiveness, leading to hearing damage. Aearo should be allowed to proactively resolve the growing problem of earplug lawsuits through a bankruptcy settlement, Husnick said.

April 4 (Reuters) - Federal appeals court judges on Tuesday appeared skeptical of 3M's (MMM.N) bid to use the bankruptcy of its subsidiary Aearo Technologies to shield itself from nearly 260,000 lawsuits over allegedly defective military-issue earplugs. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago to reverse a bankruptcy court order allowing the lawsuits to move forward against 3M, even though Aearo is bankrupt. Aearo and 3M said the bankruptcy process would facilitate a fair and comprehensive settlement with the plaintiffs. David Frederick, representing the plaintiffs, told the panel that 3M "contrived this bankruptcy to help itself, not Aearo or its creditors." The next-largest MDL, the Johnson & Johnson talc litigation, has 38,000 cases.

U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco said in his order that Google "fell strikingly short" in its duties to preserve records. Separately, the plaintiffs will have a chance to urge Donato to tell jurors that Google destroyed information that was unfavorable to it. The lawyers said Google was deleting chat records every 24 hours and "did so even after this litigation commenced." Google is separately fighting claims in a U.S. Justice Department antitrust case in Washington, D.C., federal court of destroyed chat records. The case is In re Google Play Store Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

Nate was identified with tinnitus and now is one of more than 200,000 claimants suing 3M over its Combat Arms earplugs. To protect his hearing, Frei wore standard issue earplugs made by 3M . Plaintiffs claim 3M earplugs were "defective" and failed to protect against hearing loss and tinnitus. 3M's Combat Arms CAEv2 earplugs CNBCEach earplug had two ends: The green end was designed to block out all sound. 3M disagreed with those claims, telling CNBC: "The data support what 3M has maintained throughout this litigation: the Combat Arms Earplugs version two were safe and effective to use.

☆ U.S. Justice Dept opposes Google bid to move advertising antitrust case to New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Mike Scarcella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The case, alleging anticompetitive abuses of advertising technology, was filed in January in Alexandria, Virginia, federal court and threatens to break up a key part of Google's business. But moving the case to the Southern District of New York won't eliminate the chance of divergent trial judgments or appellate decisions, the DOJ's lawyers said. The cases consolidated in New York can return to their originating district courts for trial, the government told Brinkema. In its bid seeking to get the DOJ case to New York, Google's lawyers said the government's "case lags far behind other pending ad tech antitrust cases" and "adds nothing of substance to those earlier-filed cases." The case is United States et al v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 1:23-cv-00108-LMB-IDD.

☆ Boies, co-counsel move to grab control of all private FTX cases
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Alison Frankel | Thomson Reuters | Alison Frankel Has Covered High-Stakes Commercial Litigation As A Columnist For Reuters Since A Dartmouth College Graduate | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, that the judge overseeing their Miami cases, U.S. District Judge Michael Moore, has already proven in their brand ambassador cases that he can steer FTX cases quickly and efficiently. Not everyone pursuing claims on behalf of FTX customers agrees with Boies and Moskowitz. (To be clear, these private cases are different from cases that could be brought by a court-appointed receiver or trustee in FTX’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy.) If the cases go to California, the California slate is a likelier candidate. It will be a few months before any ruling on the Boies and Moskowitz consolidation petition.

SummarySummary Companies Number of cases totals 57, court records showFeb 6 (Reuters) - Nearly 60 lawsuits claiming hair relaxer products sold by L'Oreal USA Inc and other companies cause cancer and other health problems will be consolidated in Chicago federal court, according to a Monday order from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. At least 57 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts across the country over the products, which use chemicals to permanently straighten textured hair, court records show. The lawsuits allege the companies knew their products contained dangerous chemicals but marketed and sold them anyway. In a statement posted online after the first lawsuits were filed, L'Oreal said it is "confident in the safety of our products and believe the recent lawsuits filed against us have no legal merit." She estimates that thousands of women could end up suing over the products, which are typically marketed to women of color.

Google said the new DOJ case, filed jointly with eight states last month, which also alleges advertising-related abuses, overlaps with multidistrict litigation in New York that formed in 2021. Google has disputed the claims in the new lawsuit, saying it "duplicates an unfounded" one that Texas filed and now is part of the New York litigation. "They just want DOJ versus Google, nobody else," Vladeck said. Fox also said there is a new federal law that gives state plaintiffs their preference for venue in antitrust litigation. The case is In re Google Digital Advertising Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 1:21-md-03010-PKC.

[1/2] GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) logo is seen in this illustration, August 10, 2022. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal law preempts the plaintiffs' state-law claims that GSK failed to warn doctors and pregnant women that animal studies found a link between birth defects and taking Zofran. Louis Bograd, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at Motley Rice, did not respond to a request for comment. Without any newly acquired information, GSK could not legally change the label without the FDA's blessing, Kayatta wrote. For the plaintiffs: Louis Bograd of Motley RiceFor GSK: Lisa Blatt of Williams & ConnollyRead more:Zofran birth defect cases should be revived, say hundreds of plaintiffsGSK defeats 425 lawsuits alleging Zofran causes birth defects(NOTE: This story has been updated with a comment from GSK.)

Here are four climate and environment lawsuits that are likely to make headlines in 2023. The oil companies in the nation's high court are hoping to upend a series of circuit court decisions saying the cases belong in state courts where they were filed. If the court takes the appeal and rules for the oil companies, then the cases would be moved to federal court, the preferred venue for the industry defendants. (Bellwether trials are chosen as test cases and are used to work through common legal and factual issues.) "I think it will be a huge year for this issue," Conroy said of 2023.

Dec 6 (Reuters) - E-cigarette maker Juul Labs on Tuesday said it has reached settlements with about 10,000 plaintiffs covering more than 5,000 cases in California. Juul did not disclose the settlement amount as part of the settlement and court process in the federal multidistrict litigation and related JUUL Labs Product Cases. The company has obtained equity investment to fund it, a spokeperson told Reuters in a statement. But following an appeal, the health regulator put the ban on hold and agreed to an additional review of Juul's marketing application. Reporting by Juby Babu and Chris Kirkham; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A conflict could arise in the future, if, for example, Aearo and 3M disagreed about the terms of a future settlement, Graham said. If that happened, Kirkland could face disqualification, loss of fees, or even potentially the dismissal of Aearo's bankruptcy case, according to the judge. Kirkland has defended 3M in the MDL, and it represents Aearo in the bankruptcy case that was meant to spur a settlement of the earplug lawsuits. The plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog sought to disqualify Kirkland from representing Aearo in the bankruptcy, saying it could not faithfully serve both Aearo and 3M. The case is Aearo Technologies LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, No.

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