Phil Law Weblog

US securities laws do more to benefit big institutional investors than the individual investors whom such laws were designed to protect, according to a study issued on Wednesday by the US Chamber of Commerce, America’s most powerful business lobby.

Several plaintiffs (with allegations of sexually abuse at Catholic orphanages and schools) have refiled claims in the past week seeking class action status for their lawsuits.

A class-action lawsuit has been filed in a California court by a Seattle law firm on behalf of a California man accusing Apple of knowing that its new iPod nano portable music player could be easily damaged by normal use.

The Chicago-based Kenneth B. Moll & Associates Ltd. law firm has filed a class action on behalf of all Israeli citizens who have allegedly died or were seriously hurt from using the pain-killing drug Vioxx.

Payouts from the New Jersey’s catastrophic insurer of medical malpractice claims will drop more than a quarter in 2005, an improvement that Gov. Ed Rendell said reflects the state’s response to high malpractice insurance premiums.

Lawyers for plaintiffs in the massive litigation over withdrawn painkiller Vioxx are banding together a legal “dream team” that plans to push all their future lawsuits into state courts, considered less friendly to defendant Merck & Co. Houston lawyer Mark Lanier and New York attorney Perry Weitz have assembled a legal team of at least [...]

Opponents of school consolidation have gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the November 2006 ballot, but they are concerned their efforts could be in vain should courts rule against them.
Secretary of State John Gale said Monday the statewide petition filed by Nebraskans for Local Schools contained 87,006 signatures. That’s about 31,000 more [...]

The law offices of Philadelphia-based Brian M. Felgoise and Hartford, Conn - based Schatz & Nobel have filled securities class action lawsuits against Emeryville-based Pixar, an animation company.

Parents of murder victim Kerry Repp plan to appeal the dismissal of their civil suit against the city of Medford for its failure to answer Repp’s 9-1-1 call. As their alleged emotional distress following Repp’s death did not arise out of physical injuries they suffered, as required by Oregon law, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge [...]

A Baltimore County judge yesterday denied motions by lemon-law firm Kimmel & Silverman to reopen 30 cases dismissed with prejudice, most for failure of discovery, telling the firm that its clients may still seek financial remedies through another avenue.
The Pennsylvania-based firm opened a Maryland office in Owings Mills in the summer of 2004 and hired [...]