“Attorney General Kathy Jennings today announced an $85 million multistate settlement with American Honda Motor Co., Inc. and Honda of America Mfg., Inc., over allegations Honda concealed safety issues related to defects in the frontal airbag systems installed in certain Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the United States. The systems were designed and manufactured by Takata Corporation, a long-time Honda supplier, and were first installed in Honda vehicles in the 2001 model year,” was posted in Delaware.gov’s news feeds.

“The settlement, reached between the attorneys general of 43 states and the District of Columbia and Honda, concludes a multistate investigation into Honda’s alleged failure to inform regulators and consumers of that the frontal airbags posed a significant risk of rupture, which could cause metal fragments to fly into the passenger compartments of many Honda and Acura vehicles. The ruptures have resulted in at least 14 deaths and over 200 injuries in the United States alone.”

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“While the number of cars on the road has steadily increased over the past several decades, the rate of fatal accidents has gone down significantly. In large part, this decrease is due to advancements in life-saving technology, most notably, airbags,” writes Richard P. Console, Jr. in The National Law Review.

“According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), between 1987 and 2017, airbags saved over 50,000 lives. Of course, airbags are only effective when they work correctly. While there are several reasons why an airbag may not deploy, the most common reason is that the airbag was defective.”

“If a driver or passenger is injured in a motor vehicle accident in which the airbag did not deploy, they may be entitled to monetary compensation through various sources. Of course, if another driver caused the accident, an accident victim can pursue a claim against that party. However, there may be other claims, as well. One often overlooked claim is a product liability claim against the manufacturer of the vehicle or the manufacturer of the airbag, or both.”

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“Bayer will pay about $1.6 billion to settle nearly all of the U.S. lawsuits that, over several years, have claimed the company’s Essure birth control implant caused serious injuries,” reports Conor Hale in Fierce Biotech’s MedTech.

“The German drugmaker’s agreements with plaintiff law firms cover about 90% of nearly 39,000 filed and unfiled claims, within all of the jurisdictions with significant numbers of Essure cases, Bayer said in a statement.”

“The company is also currently in talks with lawyers representing the remaining plaintiffs. Most of the terms of the settlement agreements are confidential, but they contain no admission of wrongdoing or liability.”

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“The self-proclaimed ‘Lottery Lawyer’ has been charged in a scheme in which tens of millions of dollars was swindled from lottery winners, federal prosecutors said Tuesday,” reports Phil Helsel in NBC’s U.S. News.

“New York lawyer Jason Kurland, 46, is accused of gaining the trust of his clients, some of whom won big in Mega Millions and Powerball, and steering them to invest in businesses controlled by three other people who are also charged. Kurland is alleged to have gotten kickbacks in the scheme.”

“More than $107 million was invested in the scheme, and of that, more than $80 million was either stolen or lost, prosecutors said. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn.”

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“Despite winning a relatively swift victory in the district court, Tiffany & Co. will not be collecting its $21 million judgment against Costco Wholesale Corp. anytime soon. In a 3-0 decision on Aug. 17, 2020, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated the district court’s judgment for Tiffany, holding that factual questions improperly decided by the court instead should have gone to a jury,” report Andriana Shultz Daly and Stephanie A. Martinez in McGuireWoods’ Resources.

“The dispute between Tiffany and Costco began in 2012 when Tiffany, a well-known purveyor of high-end jewelry, discovered that Costco was using ‘Tiffany’ on point-of-sale signs for certain of its otherwise ‘unbranded’ diamond rings. Tiffany demanded that Costco cease use of ‘Tiffany’ in connection with its rings, and Costco complied. Costco also notified purchasers of such rings that Costco used ‘Tiffany’ merely to indicate that the rings had Tiffany-style settings, and reminded customers that they could return their rings at any time. Still, Tiffany sued for trademark infringement and counterfeiting. In response, Costco asserted that its use of ‘Tiffany’ constituted descriptive fair use.”

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“Businesses may be wondering whether there is increased risk of price gouging liability when they impose higher penalty terms, ask for higher up-front payments, raise rates, or otherwise seek terms that may be more burdensome. Sellers and service provides should consider the risk of being held liable for non-price terms that result in higher customer costs,” discuss Christopher E. Ondeck, John R. Ingrassia, Kelly Landers Hawthorne, Nathaniel Miller, Nicollette R. Moser and Jennifer Tarr in Proskauer’s Antitrust blog.

“The majority of state price gouging laws do not address the question of non-price terms head on. Nonetheless, the perception that customers may suffer from a lesser bargaining position may impact how alleged price increases are perceived and potentially investigated. Several state attorneys general describe price gouging as involving unequal bargaining power when explaining to consumers how to identify and report concerns.”

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“In one of the largest COVID-relief fraud cases to date, nine Ohio and Florida individuals are alleged to have conspired to obtain fraudulent PPP loans guaranteed by the CARES Act and to have received kickbacks for filing fraudulent loan applications,” reports D. Jacques Smith, Randall A. Brater, Alexander S. Birkhold, Michael F. Dearington, Mohammed T. Farooqui, Rebecca W. Foreman, Nadia Patel, Stephanie Trunk, Laura Zell in Arent Fox’s Investigations Blog.

“In federal criminal complaints filed in the Northern District of Ohio and the Southern District of Florida, the nine individuals were charged with a combination of bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, and obstruction for conspiring to obtain fraudulent PPP loans and receiving kickbacks for filing fraudulent PPP loan applications. The nine individuals are: (1) Wyleia Nashon Williams of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; (2) Phillip J. Augustin of Coral Springs, Florida; (3) Damion O. Mckenzie of Miami Gardens, Florida; (4) Andre M. Clark of Miramar, Florida; (5) Keyaira Bostic of Pembroke Pines, Florida; (6) James R. Stote of Hollywood, Florida; (7) Ross Charno of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; (8) Deon D. Levy of Bedford, Ohio; and (9) Abdul-Azeem Levy of Cleveland, Ohio.”

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“Daimler said on Thursday it has reached agreements costing nearly $3 billion to settle civil investigations by U.S. regulators and lawsuits from vehicle owners stemming from a long-running probe into software to cheat diesel emissions tests,” report David Shepardson and Emma Thomasson in Reuters Environment.

“The settlements in principle address civil and environmental claims tied to 250,000 U.S. diesel passenger cars and vans in the United States and include claims from the Environmental Protection Agency, Justice Department, California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the California Attorney General’s Office.”

“The German carmaker said it expects the costs of the settlements with U.S. authorities will total $1.5 billion, settling with owners will cost about $700 million and ‘further expenses of a mid three-digit-million EUR (euro) amount to fulfill requirements of the settlements.'”

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“Attorney Geoffrey Fieger, one of Michigan’s most prominent lawyers, refused to let one of his employees work from home to care for her sick child during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new lawsuit,” reports Tresa Baldas in Detroit Free Press.

“The woman says human resources approved her request to work remotely for two days, and, that she offered to take unpaid leave if necessary because her son was ill.”

“But Fieger — who for years has worked from his luxury Caribbean hotel that he has long referred to as home — wouldn’t budge. He fired her instead, she says, so she sued the legal giant in federal court.”

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“A Florida-based specialty pharmacy will pay $3.5 million to resolve allegations it served as a conduit for a Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd subsidiary to pay kickbacks to Medicare patients, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday,” reports Nate Raymond in Reuters’ U.S. Legal News.

“The settlement with Advanced Care Scripts Inc was the latest to result from an industry-wide U.S. probe of drugmakers’ financial support of patient assistance charities that has resulted in nearly $921 million in settlements.”

“Representatives for Teva and ACS did not respond to requests for comment. Teva has said it has been cooperating with the investigation since first receiving a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston in 2017.”

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“Apple Inc. was told by a federal jury in Texas to pay Optis Wireless Technology $506.2 million in patent royalties related to 4G technology in the iPhone and other devices,” reported by Susan Decker and Blake Brittain of Bloomberg shared via Bloomberg Wire in The Dallas Morning News’ Business/Technology.

“The jury in Marshall found that five patents were infringed. It also found that the infringement was willful, which means District Judge Rodney Gilstrap could increase the amount by as much as three times the amount set by the jurors.”

“Optis and its partners in the case, Panoptis Patent Management, and Unwired Planet LLC, claimed that Apple’s smartphones, watches, and tablets that operate over the LTE cellular standard were using its technology. Apple, which argued the patents were invalid, pledged to appeal.”

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“When defending a Lanham Act claim brought by a competitor, the doctrine of unclean hands—the lawyerly version of ‘But they did it too!’—can be a case-dispositive argument. Last month, the Ninth Circuit made it a bit easier to establish this defense, holding that a defendant arguing unclean hands need not prove that the plaintiff’s unclean conduct caused ‘actual harm,'” write Michael Sochynsky and Jonah M. Knobler in Patterson Belknap’s blog.

“The unclean hands defense is based on the equitable maxim that ‘he who comes into equity must come with clean hands.’ … Its roots lie in the English Court of Chancery—a royal ‘court of conscience’ that was able to grant relief in situations where the hidebound courts of law could not. Chancery’s unique focus on conscience and morality meant that plaintiffs seeking its aid were held to a high standard of behavior.”

“Unclean hands remains a viable defense today in the context of equitable claims.”

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“Bayer is asking a California appeals court to trim $4 million from the amount of money it owes a California groundskeeper struggling to survive cancer that a trial court found was caused by the man’s exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicides,” reports Carey Gillam in U.S. Right to Know.

“In a ‘petition for rehearing’ filed Monday with the Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District of California, lawyers for Monsanto and its German owner Bayer AG asked the court to cut from $20.5 million to $16.5 million the damages awarded to Dewayne ‘Lee’ Johnson.”

“The appeals court ‘reached an erroneous decision based on a mistake of law,’ according to the filing by Monsanto. The issue turns on how long Johnson is expected to live. Because evidence at trial found Johnson was expected to live “no more than two years,” he should not receive money for future pain and suffering allocated for any longer than two years – despite the fact that he continues to outlive predictions, the company argues.”

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“The attorney general of New York took action Thursday to dissolve the National Rifle Association following an 18-month investigation that found evidence the powerful gun rights group is ‘fraught with fraud and abuse,'” reports Tim Mak in NPR’s Investigations.

“Attorney General Letitia James claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday that she found financial misconduct in the millions of dollars and that it contributed to a loss of more than $64 million over a three-year period.”

“The suit alleges that top NRA executives misused charitable funds for personal gain, awarded contracts to friends and family members, and provided contracts to former employees to ensure loyalty.”

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“A lawsuit has accused Reed Smith of wrongly firing a lawyer after a ‘discriminatory chain of perceptions and events’ stemming from a concussion that the lawyer received while on vacation,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s News.

“The lawsuit by former of counsel Aaron Chase, filed Wednesday in the Southern District of New York, alleges unlawful retaliation and disability discrimination by Reed Smith.”

“Chase says he received the concussion when he hit his head hard on the frame of a vehicle that he was entering while on vacation in September 2019. He returned to work the same month and informed his direct supervisor, partner Jennifer Achilles, about the injury soon afterward.”

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“Bayer recently announced its intent to settle all Roundup, dicamba drift and Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) water litigation cases between $10.1 and $10.9 billion. The company says this settlement is not an admission of fault, but rather a cost-effective way to end the ‘distraction,’ reports Sonja Begemann in AG Web’s Business.

“The decision to resolve these cases was driven by our desire to bring greater certainty to the farmers we serve every day,” says Liam Condon, Bayer president of the crop science division.”

“These, and all our products, bring to growers and other users around the world the ability to help them economically and sustainably produce a healthy crop.”

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“Class actions present significant risk, because a certified class exposes a class defendant to class-wide liability,” warns James Bogan III of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP in JD Supra.

“Most defendants agree to settle rather than face the risk of a class verdict. But sometimes a class defendant will roll the dice, hoping it will prevail either at trial or on appeal. In a recent case, Bahamas Surgery Center, LLC v. Kimberly-Clark Corporation, …, the class defendants did just that. Although the district court entered judgment against the class defendants in the amount of $24 million, they were ultimately saved on appeal by a split panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.”

“By way of background, Bahamas Surgery Center, LLC (Bahamas), sued Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KC) and Halyard Health, Inc. (Halyard), for fraud, asserting that KC and Halyard misrepresented the efficacy of surgical gowns in terms of blocking the spread of pathogens. Bahamas presented evidence that the surgical gowns had been labeled as compliant with a specific standard going to that efficacy – the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Liquid Barrier Level 4 standard – when in fact the gowns did not meet that standard.”

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“After nearly four years of litigation, PAM Transport truckers will finally get to collect money owed to them after a federal court approved of a $16.5 million settlement,” reports Tyson Fisher in Land Line.

“Judge Timothy L. Brooks of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas granted final approval of a settlement between PAM Transport and more than 16,000 of its drivers. The settlement agreement was reached in February just one day before the trial was scheduled to begin.”

“After attorneys take their one-third cut of $5.5 million, the three named plaintiffs collect their $40,000 each, plaintiffs who sat for deposition receive $1,000 ($31,000 total) and plaintiffs who prepared to testify at trial get $2,500 ($17,500 total), the average amount for each driver comes to around $600. Each class member will receive a minimum of $150 plus a pro-rated amount based on the number of weeks employed as a trucker. According to the settlement, any unclaimed funds will be donated to the St. Christopher Truckers Development and Relief Fund.”

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“Shares of San Diego-based chipmaker QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) rocketed over 15% Thursday after the company topped analysts’ fiscal third quarter expectations and announced that it had come to a settlement agreement with Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies Co. Qualcomm reported adjusted earnings of 86 cents per share on sales of $4.89 billion, with the wireless chip producer benefiting from the nation’s 5G cellular rollout. Analysts had expected earnings of 72 cents per share on revenues of $4.8 billion,” reports Timothy Smith in Investopia’s Company News.

“Moreover, Qualcomm said that the settlement – which includes money owed from previous quarters and a global patent-licensing agreement – will add about $1.8 billion to its top line and $1.38 in earnings per share during the current quarter. “With the signing of the Huawei agreement, we are now entering a period in which we have multi-year license agreements with every major handset OEM,” Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf told investors, per MarketWatch.”

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“Judge Raag Singhal … dismissed a class action lawsuit that claimed Burger King Corporation’s advertising deceived customers by making a ‘presumption’ that its plant-based “Impossible Whopper” patties would be cooked on different grills than those used to cook meats,” writes

“Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged to have been ‘duped’ into believing that Burger King cooked its Impossible Whopper patties on dedicated grills due to the patties being marketed as ‘0% beef and 100% Whopper.’ The plaintiffs had previously argued that Burger King marketed the Impossible Whopper as vegan, but then dropped that claim given that Burger King’s advertising did not expressly mention that the Impossible Whopper was in fact vegan.”

“In dismissing the plaintiffs’ breach of contract claim, Judge Singhal held that Burger King’s promotional material did not mislead customers about cooking methods and that it did not imply that its plant-based patties would be grilled separately from meat products.”

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