“The Eleventh Circuit has clarified the scope of the ‘local event exception’ to the federal-court jurisdiction over ‘mass actions’ conferred by the Class Action Fairness Act (“CAFA”), holding that claims by former foundry employees against manufacturers and distributors of products used at the foundry are not within the exception,” posted Valerie Sanders in Eversheds Sutherland’s 11 Circuit Business Blog.

“The plaintiffs in the case are 230 former workers at a now-closed Alabama foundry.  They worked in different jobs at different times, but all claim that they were harmed by exposure to hazardous chemicals during their employment.  The defendants are unrelated companies that manufactured (and in some cases distributed) chemical products used at the foundry, including sands, resins, gases, and other substances of various formulations.  The plaintiffs’ complaint, originally filed in state court, includes several claims, all arising from the allegation that the ‘normal and foreseeable’ use of the defendants’ products at the foundry caused the ‘formation and release of hazardous and carcinogenic chemical substances,’ which harmed them.”

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“Two federal appellate courts published notable opinions on the intersection between personal jurisdiction jurisprudence and Rule 23 class action procedure. The defendants in both cases face nationwide class actions, and each argued that the Supreme Court’s 2017 decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California, 137 S. Ct. 1773, precludes district courts from exercising specific jurisdiction over the claims of unnamed putative class members from other states. The majority of a D.C. Circuit panel decided to resolve the appeal before it on alternate grounds. But in dissent, Judge Silberman explained why he understands Bristol-Myers’s holding to extend to nationwide class actions brought in federal court. The next day, a unanimous Seventh Circuit panel refused to extend Bristol-Myers to federal class actions,” reports Michael D. Leffel and Aaron R. Wegrzyn in Foley & Lardner’s Insights.

“The Supreme Court’s Bristol-Myers decision addresses state courts’ jurisdiction over the claims of non-resident plaintiffs in mass tort actions. The Court held that a California state court lacked jurisdiction over the defendant with respect to nonresident plaintiffs’ claims because the defendant was not incorporated in California and did not have its principal place of business in California (thus defeating general jurisdiction) and because the claims lacked an “adequate link” to California (thus defeating specific jurisdiction). Following that ruling, district courts across the country have split on whether to extend the logic of Bristol-Myers from state mass tort actions to nationwide class actions. ”

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“Former Wells Fargo & Co. general counsel C. Allen Parker Jr. took home outsized pay of more than $9.6 million last year thanks to his elevation to interim CEO,” reports Brian Baxter in Bloomberg Law’s Banking Law News.

“Parker’s compensation is all the more notable since Wells Fargo’s top in-house lawyer has rarely, if ever, been one of the highest-paid executives at the company, according to three former lawyers for the bank.”

“The bulk of Parker’s pay—approximately $8.3 million, including a $2 million grant of restricted stock—came from his service last year as Wells Fargo’s interim CEO from March through October, according to a 2019 proxy statement filed by the company March 16.”

“The proxy, which also revealed that the bank clawed back a $15 million stock award to former CEO Timothy Sloan, came less than a week after its hire of a new general counsel in Ellen Patterson, the soon-to-be former in-house legal chief at Toronto-Dominion Bank.”

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“PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit alleging age discrimination in hiring by paying out $11.625 million, an amount that is not even a blip on the radar screen of a firm that reports annual revenues in excess of $41 billion,” reports Patricia Barnes in Forbes’ Leadership.

“Moreover, PwC seems somewhat tentative with respect to its commitment to change the hiring practices the plaintiffs have argued since 2016 were grossly discriminatory to older workers.”

“Both sides released a carefully worded press release earlier this month stating that PwC has agreed ‘to enhance certain of its recruiting procedures geared toward further attracting qualified older applicants for entry level jobs.’”

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“New court filings reveal that the Department of Defense wants to ‘reconsider certain aspects’ of its decision to award Microsoft with the coveted $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract,” reports Taylor Soper in GeekWire.

“The latest legal development is part of Amazon’s protest over the prestigious cloud computing deal, known as JEDI. Amazon Web Services sued the federal government after Microsoft emerged as the surprise winner of the JEDI contract last year.”

“In the new filing, a motion for voluntary remand, the DoD said that it ‘wishes to reconsider its award decision in response to the other technical challenges presented by AWS.’ The DoD is asking for 120 days to assess the matter. It wants to specifically examine one issue related to ‘online marketplace offerings.'”

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“The Am Law 50 firm moved its headquarters to Philadelphia’s Cira Centre in 2005, taking advantage of a tax break program that Pennsylvania offers businesses to move into developments in formerly run-down areas. Since taking up residence in Cira Centre, Dechert’s paid virtually no state or local business taxes in exchange for Dechert’s role in making the area an attractive business destination,” notes Joe Patrice in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“But the program expired in 2018, so when the Keystone Opportunity Zone program eyed a new tax-free area in Schuylkill Yards, Dechert walked up and asked to move there too.”

“There’s nothing in the law to say companies can’t hop from zone to zone to remain permanently tax-free, and when authorities denied Dechert’s request to continue not paying its taxes, the firm took the government to court.”

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It was November 2014 when attorney Steve Ryan gave a presentation to his shareholders about a possible merger for Briggs & Morgan law firm, arguing that they “needed to take a hard look at what the strategic path forward for our firm was going to be,” reports Liz Fedor in MinnPost’s Twin Cities Business.

“It took Briggs five years to consider its future, choose a merger option, and find Taft, a Midwestern law firm that, like Briggs, was founded in the 1880s. On Jan. 1, 2020, the firms merged, and Ryan is now partner-in-charge of the Minneapolis office of Taft.”

“As of early 2020, Briggs was among three of the 10 largest law offices in downtown Minneapolis that executed mergers. Gray Plant Mooty, the oldest continuous law firm in Minneapolis, dating back to 1866, combined with a firm whose biggest market is Kansas City. The new firm is called Lathrop GPM.”

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“Cascade County has hired a private law firm to assist the Cascade County Attorney’s Office, which is experiencing a significant number of attorney vacancies with two major civil cases pending,” reports Kari Puckett in Great Falls Tribune.

“At a special meeting Friday, commissioners approved a legal service agreement with Ugrin, Alexander and Zadick in which attorneys for the firm will serve as independent contractors to provide legal representation to the county.”

“Costs for the initial six-month term is $7,500 a month for a total of $45,000.”

There are three vacancies in the office.

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“A partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in New York has tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting the firm to close the office as a precaution this week,” reports Amanda Robert in ABA Journal’s Daily News.

“The firm did not name the attorney, but according to Law.com, he is the first known BigLaw partner to contract the coronavirus in the United States. An attorney at Lewis and Garbuz, a Manhattan trusts and estates law firm, also tested positive for the illness last week.”

“John Quinn, founding partner of the 800-plus attorney firm, also told Law.com on Sunday that the partner belongs to a religious community in Westchester County, where other infections have been reported. He has been resting at home since March 2.”

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“Apple has tentatively agreed to a $500 million settlement after admitting to slowing down older phones. The deal would provide small payouts for many iPhone owners in the US, plus greater compensation for named class members and attorneys. It covers people who bought any product in the iPhone 6 and 7 lineup — which Apple secretly throttled to conserve battery life.” reports Adi Robertson in The Verge.

“As Bloomberg Law notes, the settlement was filed in a California court last Friday and is awaiting final court approval. The deal — which took months to negotiate — would resolve dozens of class action lawsuits that were filed between 2017 and 2018, then later consolidated into one complaint.”

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“Using social media to support your firm’s and lawyers’ business development efforts should be at forefront of everything you do on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. If the post doesn’t support your firm’s strategic goals, take a time out to think about why you are even doing this and rethink your strategy,” writes Stefanie Marrone in The Social Media Butterfly’s Insights.

“Don’t use your social channels to only focus on your firm’s work and its substantive news, events and publications – that can make your firm seem dry, a little boastful and devoid of personality and heart.”

“Firms should also showcase their “softer” side, which can support their business development efforts, because clients want to peek behind the curtains on the firms on which they rely.”

“Showcasing the softer side of your law firm humanizes your firm and makes your lawyers more relatable. Include posts about firm life, pro bono and community service, upcoming holidays, as well as profiles on lawyers and alumni, and photos from firm events.”

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“Earlier this week, Americans received a rather stark warning from federal health officials about the inevitable spread of coronavirus in the U.S. ‘[T]his could be bad,’ Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a press briefing. ‘It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen,'” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above The Law’s Biglaw.

Biglaw firms across the country are taking the news seriously, echoing the actions of their colleagues abroad and imposing travel restrictions and canceling events.

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“Johnson & Johnson and other drug companies facing thousands of lawsuits over their role in the opioid epidemic have warned that settlement talks will be “severely” jeopardized if plaintiffs’ lawyers are allowed to assess a fee payment worth billions of dollars,” reports Tom Hals and Nate Raymond in Reuters Business News.

“Major distributors such as McKesson Corp and drugmakers including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd joined in the request that U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland, Ohio, reject a request by a committee of plaintiffs’ lawyers for a 7% fee assessed against any settlements. They filed their brief late Wednesday.”

“The request could amount to $3.3 billion, based on a $48 billion settlement proposal that five companies have been negotiating with various state attorneys general.”

“The drug companies noted that the attorneys would receive more money from the settlement than even some of the states they represent. Dozens of state attorneys general also opposed the request for the fee to the plaintiffs executive committee that is litigating thousands of lawsuits by towns, counties and tribal governments.”

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“Now more than a half a year into his house arrest, environmental attorney Steven Donziger received a passionate recommendation to receive his law license back on Monday from the officer presiding over his bar proceedings in New York. ” reports Adam Klasfeld in Courthouse News Service.

“My recommendation is that his interim suspension should be ended, and that he should be allowed to resume the practice of law,” bar referee John Horan declared.”

“For his role in obtaining a $9.8 billion judgment against Chevron, Donziger has faced the threat of financial ruin from enormous legal fees, criminal prosecution and the suspension of his law license. He has spent more than six months wearing an ankle bracelet in his apartment in New York’s Upper East Side, pursued for the better part of a decade by one of the world’s most powerful oil companies after zealous litigation that one judge labeled a fraud.”

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“Stephanie Apostolou has been elected general counsel and secretary of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Koppers and Koppers Holdings, effective March 1,” report Ben Maiden in Corporate Secretary’s Appointments.

“Apostolou is at present deputy general counsel and assistant secretary with the NYSE-listed company, which is a global provider of treated wood products, wood treatment chemicals and carbon compounds.”

“Her promotion follows the announcement that Steven Lacy, chief administrative officer, general counsel and secretary of Koppers will retire at the end of this year after a 20-year career with the company. In the period between March 1 and December 31, Lacy will hold a new position as assistant to the president of Koppers.”

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“A Kansas law firm that claimed that a competitor was inflating client recoveries in its advertising won’t be able to pursue its lawsuit,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Law Firms.

“U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren of Wichita, Kansas, ruled against the Brave Law Firm in Feb. 12 decision dismissing his case.”

“The Brave Law Firm, a personal injury firm, had alleged that Brad Pistotnik Law and the Pistotnik-affiliated Truck Accident Lawyers Group were engaging in false and deceptive advertising by listing high-dollar recoveries.”

“Various amounts are listed on screen, including $9 million … The $9 million amount was also listed online and in print ads.”

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“Jones Day has hired five Supreme Court clerks from the October 2018 term, continuing its recent tradition of recruiting top talent from the nation’s highest court,” reports Roy Strom in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“For nearly a decade, the Cleveland-founded firm has been a leader in the prestigious competition to land young lawyers with a Supreme Court pedigree. Last year, Jones Day hired nearly a third of all the clerks, 11, from the 2018 term. Jones Day has now hired 55 Supreme Court clerks since the 2011 October term. It’s 2019 class includes clerks for Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

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“Bayer AG has asked a California appeals court to overturn an $86 million verdict that found it was responsible for a couple’s cancer caused by its glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup.” reports Tina Bellon in Reuter’s Environment News.

“Bayer in a statement on Monday said U.S. regulators had consistently found glyphosate to be non-carcinogenic and that the Pilliods’ lawyer during trial repeatedly violated court orders in an attempt to inflame jurors.”

“The company denies the allegations made by more than 42,700 plaintiffs in the United States, saying decades of studies have shown Roundup and glyphosate are safe for human use.”

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“The Biglaw firm of Dentons is facing a $25 million lawsuit alleging self dealing, conflict of interest, and gross overbilling. ” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law’s BigLaw.

“The lawsuit alleges that both Dentons and partner Shane Stevenson told Venning that “within a short period of time” of the Regent Energy sale, Stevenson would come in-house at Venning Group. While that move never materialized, the complaint alleges that in anticipation of the move, Stevenson became involved as a shareholder or director in numerous of its companies.”

“Additionally, the complaint alleges that Stevenson has a substance abuse problem and that Dentons was aware of the issue and failed to provide proper supervision of his legal work. The allegations against Stevenson include ones that he provided legal advice under the influence of alcohol and cocaine and that Venning was not warned the legal work they got from Stevenson may be under the influence.”

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