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A committee of attorneys involved in litigation arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill has made its recommendation for dividing $700 million in fees among 122 law firms involved in years of complex legal work, reports the Associated Press.

Two Louisiana law firms that steered the litigation will get the biggest payouts. Domengeaux Wright Roy & Edwards of Lafayette and Herman, Herman & Katz in New Orleans will get about $87.8 million if a federal judge approves the recommendation filed this week in U.S. District Court in New Orleans.

“Millions of barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig at BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico,” writes Kevin McGill. “Eleven workers were killed and the pollution affected Gulf fisheries, delicate wetlands and recreational beaches.”

Read the AP article.

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The general counsel of Dewey & LeBoeuf while the now-defunct law firm collapsed has experience with crises, so Bloomberg Law asked her to explain the likely legal ramifications of United Airlines’ botched handling of an overbooked flight and what the company may do to mitigate the fallout.

Janis Meyer, now a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson, focuses her practice on professional responsibility, writes Jason Booth.

She discusses what the airline’s general counsel likely is doing this week to deal with the crisis, who he will speak to, who ultimately bears responsibility, whether apologies serve any legal purpose, and whether the incident would play out differently if phones to capture the event were not available.

Read the Bloomberg article.

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The Boston Herald is reporting that United Airlines — embroiled in controversy after it forcibly removed a doctor from an overbooked flight — could be in for a legal beatdown if the passenger takes the beleaguered carrier to court, according to legal experts.

Reporter Bob McGovern quotes Anthony Tarricone, a Boston attorney who has handled cases involving aircraft accidents and disasters: “I think they are going to have a serious legal issue on their hands. United might say they didn’t hurt him, and that it was security, but United set that situation in motion.”

“United CEO Oscar Munoz may have shot the company in the foot when he told the airline’s employees on Monday that they ‘followed established procedures,’” writes McGovern. “Instead of pegging the case on rogue security personnel, attorneys may be able to point to the statement as an acknowledgement that the company backed the behavior.”

Read the Boston Herald article.

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A Dallas County jury found there was clear and convincing evidence that Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., Dickson’s employer for 38 years, was “grossly negligent” in exposing the longtime mechanical engineer to asbestos, according to a post on the website of Androvett Legal Media and Marketing.

Dickson, a resident of Hurst, Texas, died at the age of 74 on Dec. 13, 2013.

The jury awarded Dickson’s survivors $8.8 million, according to the website of his law firm, Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett.

“There was not a company-based respiratory protection policy in place during the time of Billy’s exposure,” said the plaintiffs’ attorney Darren McDowell of Dallas-based Simon Greenstone.

Read the article.

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Twitter, Yelp, Instagram, Foursquare and a few other apps are agreeing to a $5.3 million settlement to an invasion-of-privacy class action in which the companies’ apps were accused of accessing the address books of iOS users without their knowledge or consent, reports Arstechnica.com.

Fees for the lawyers who brought the suit on behalf of an estimated 7 million members of the class will be about $1.59 million. Individual class members are in for a payday of about 53 cents each.

Class members in a suit against Dunkin’ Donuts won’t even get money. They’re in for a payoff of free buttered treats, according to the Associated Press. Their lawyers, however, will collect $90,000 in fees in the settlement.

Thomas Shapiro, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said it wasn’t a profitable case for his firm.

Read the stories in Arstechnica and the AP.

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A disbarred Connecticut lawyer who owes more than $600,000 for stealing money from a client was given a dressing down by a frustrated Stamford judge who was angered that the man had paid less than $400 in restitution in five years, reports the Stamford Advocate.

Benson Snaider pleaded guilty to felony charge of first-degree larceny in 2012 for misappropriating an $800,000 check written by the city in 2005 for what turned out to be the partial payment for property to make way for the Stamford Urban Transitway, John Nickerson writes. Snaider received a five-year probated sentence and was ordered to pay $680,000 in restitution.

A court earlier found him to be in violation of his probation because he had maid only $180,000 in restitution payments.

Read the Stamford Advocate article.

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Keller and Heckman will produce a new seminar, “The Connected Product Intensive: A Framework for Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management,” May 2-3, 2017 in San Francisco, CA.

Keller and Heckman’s Connected Products Team will focus on the regulatory and litigation risks affecting connected products, and offer practical tips on compliance, risk avoidance, and risk management. Learn how to keep your customers safe and secure and to protect your company’s reputation and investments.

Highlights from the agenda include:

• Guidance on developing compliance frameworks
• Drafting privacy policies
• Responding to a security breach and best practices for encryption
• Environmental considerations including California’s Proposition 65 and state green chemistry laws
• FCC issues from equipment certifications through spectrum availability
• Handling product recalls, crisis management, and product liability litigation
• Energy efficiency considerations
• Advertising and marketing emphasizing claims, price, safety, and social media
• Rules surrounding In-app purchases
• End-User License Agreements

Register for the seminar.

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Former Trump University students who claimed a share of the $25 million settlement that Donald Trump agreed to shortly after he was elected president will recover 80 percent of the money they spent on the real-estate seminars, according to a Bloomberg Law article.

Plaintiffs claimed the university made false promises of riches and instant success. Trump fought the allegations for years but finally agreed to the deal.

“A total of 2,471 claims seeking $21.3 million in refunds had already been verified, according to the filing. With hundreds of claims still being reviewed, the lawyers expect that refund requests will rise to $25 million,” writes Bloomberg’s Edvard Pettersson.

Read the Bloomberg article.

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Bloomberg Businessweek is reporting that a legal feud between pistol tycoon Gaston Glock and his ex-wife, Helga, has ended with a resounding victory for the legendary gunmaker.

Helga Glock had filed a racketeering lawsuit accusing her former husband of siphoning off millions of dollars from the family firearm empire.

The Austrian company Glock GmbH, through its U.S. subsidiary, supplies most American law enforcement agencies with durable, large-capacity semiautomatic pistols, according to reporter Paul Barrett.

Helga Glock sought $500 million as her share in the company for helping start the company on its profitable trajectory in the 1980s. She charged that her ex-husband used illegal methods to take money fom the international corporation.

The federal judge hearing the case said the suit was unsubstantiated and called the complaint a “shotgun pleading.”

Read the Bloomberg article.

Trying a high-profile case under the media spotlight is rare for most lawyers, but it is becoming more and more common given the number of new media outlets and the growing public appetite for legal news and information, writes Bruce Vincent of Muse Communications.

“The delicate balancing act of effectively handling a client’s case while also protecting their public reputation is far from easy, but it can be done if you recognize the potential pitfalls and what to expect from reporters,” he explains in the Muse blog.

In his post, Vincent goes through the steps — starting with determining whether media truly are interested in the case, choosing who will communicate with reporters, being aware of which media outlets and individuals reporters are interested, and the challenges of answering questions from reporters while trying to stay focused on the trial.

Read the article.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.’s former chief executive officer accused the drugmaker of failing to deliver 3 million shares promised him as part of an exit package, reports Bloomberg.

Michael Pearson resigned in May as the value of Valeant’s shares dropped and it became the subject of U.S. Justice Department and congressional investigations, write David Voreacos and Cynthia Koons.

They report that Pearson is claiming the company promised him 580,676 restricted shares and 2.46 million performance shares. Those shares would have a market value of more than $30 million, although exhibits to the lawsuit suggest the value for Pearson could be higher.

Read the Bloomberg article.

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With Democrats outnumbered in Congress, a coalition of blue state attorneys general has emerged as the strongest resistance to Donald Trump’s conservative agenda, according to an article published by Bloomberg Businessweek.

“Together they’ve notched back-to-back victories against Trump’s two attempts to instill a travel ban against several Muslim-majority nations. They now hope to build on that success to form a united front against Trump’s expected efforts to roll back financial and environmental regulation, plus the GOP’s planned repeal of Obamacare,” says the article, written by Erik Larson, Esmé E Deprez and Kartikay Mehrotra.

They quote Bob Shrum, a veteran Democratic strategist who teaches political science at the University of Southern California, who says that by notching wins against Trump, state AGs can help make up for Democrats being in the minority in Congress

Read the Bloomberg Businessweek article.

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Exterro has published a new e-discovery case law report titled “The Importance of Proportionality under the New FRCP Rules” that is now available for downloading at no charge.

On its website, Exterro says the main goal of the recent FRCP amendments is to support Rule 1’s demand for a just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution to the dispute at hand. Proportionality is at the core of that notion.

This paper’s four cases cover rulings that push parties to be more proactive in finding ways to reach that resolution while avoiding over-burdensome and expensive production requests.

Included are:

• Brief case law recaps which get to heart of the e-discovery issues quickly
• Expert analysis on what these influential court rulings mean for your
  litigation process
• Tips for meeting updated e-discovery court requirements under the the new FRCP rules

Download the report.

Zapproved has published a free summary of “The Perfect Preservation Notice” session at the 2016 PREX, the premier conference for in-house e-discovery professionals. That summary is available for downloading.

• Craig Ball, Craig D. Ball, P.C.
• Dawn Radcliffe, Legal Operations Manager at TransCanada, Ltd.
• Kelly Lack, Litigation Counsel at Pacific Gas and Electric Company

Download the summary.

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Employees of Monsanto ghostwrote scientific reports that U.S. regulators relied on to determine that a chemical in its Roundup weed killer does not cause cancer, farmers and others suing the company claimed in court filings, according to a Reuters report.

Monsanto is involved in a mass litigation in federal court in San Francisco claiming the company failed to warn that exposure to Roundup could cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer, writes Reuters’ Brendan Pierson.

“Plaintiffs claim that Monsanto’s toxicology manager ghostwrote parts of a scientific report in 2013 that was published under the names of several academic scientists, and his boss ghostwrote parts of another in 2000,” Pierson reports.

Read the Reuters article.

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A Texas woman is suing a railroad and a bus company for the death of her father who was killed when a freight train slammed into the tour bus carrying him and other senior citizens, according to a post on the website of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing.

Kenneth Hoffman, 82, and three other people died in the March 7 accident in Biloxi, Mississippi. The bus was headed from a Bastrop, Texas, senior center to Boomtown Casino in Biloxi. The charter bus got stuck at a train crossing known to be hazardous for long vehicles and marked with a warning sign.

The lawsuit was filed March 10 in Dallas County State District Court on behalf of Hoffman’s daughter Kimberly Chapman of Lockhart, Texas. Defendants include Echo Tours and Charters and CSX Transportation Inc. among others. Representing Chapman is Houston lawyer Larry Wilson of Lanier Law Firm, one of the country’s premiere personal injury firms. Wilson, who specializes in transportation accidents, says:

“This tragedy should have never happened. It’s horrifying that a charter bus would ignore a warning sign and get high-centered on the tracks. CSX could have implemented policies relating to speed and procedures that greatly reduced the risk of a catastrophe like this.”

The case is Kimberly Kay Chapman v. Echo Tours and Charters, LT DBA Echo Transportation; TBL Group Inc.; Diamond Tours Inc. and CSX Transportation, Inc., Case DC-17-02924, filed in Dallas County District Court.

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A Travis County jury has returned a verdict against Chicago Title of Texas, LLC and other real estate-related businesses, finding they defrauded a young Danish woman of all proceeds from the sale of her $1.35 million condominium at the exclusive Residences at W Austin, according to a post on the website of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing.

The scheme involved a falsified power of attorney to execute contracts and closing documents in the sale of the condo, and a forgery in connection with a subsequent sale of a promissory note.

The Androvett post continues:

Mari-Louise Larsen, a Danish citizen, filed the breach of fiduciary duty and fraud claim in 2013 against her estranged husband, Andre Jones, an Austin-area resident, as well as Chicago Title and the other firms. Larsen, now 30, first met Jones in Austin’s Sixth Street entertainment district while visiting the area in 2007. After a long-distance courtship, the couple married in Denmark in 2009.

While in Denmark and waiting to move to Austin, Larsen testified she agreed to buy the luxury high-rise condo in Austin with funds from a family inheritance. However, Jones convinced her that Texas law required the names of both spouses to be on the title, despite the fact it was her separate property. Larsen and Jones later decided to divorce and sell the property. Jones then convinced Chicago Title’s contracted fee attorney, Wally Tingley, to use falsely notarized documents to close the sale without his wife’s knowledge. Jones pocketed all of the profits as the marriage deteriorated.

“This is a case of a con artist taking advantage of a wealthy young woman and actively working with others to violate the law and professional standards in the real estate industry,” said Larsen’s lawyer, Brian N. Hail of Gruber Elrod Johansen Hail Shank LLP in Dallas. “As acknowledged by Chicago Title and its fee attorney, this was one of the worst real estate transactions anyone has ever seen.”

Hail believes the jury’s finding that Chicago Title is responsible for the actions of its fee attorneys may have significant implications on future litigation involving the real estate industry.

“The jury finding that Chicago Title is vicariously liable for its fee attorney, due to the control it exerted throughout the entire transaction, may call into question the company’s entire business model of attempting to delegate closing and escrow responsibilities in the Texas market, and perhaps nationwide.”

In addition to Chicago Title and Jones, the Austin firm of Wally Tingley & Associates, P.C., and Austin-based JTREO, Inc. were found liable in the scheme.

Hail plans to file a proposed final judgment order of more than $3.7 million in Travis County’s 419th District Court. The order will be based on a request for all proceeds from the condo sale, in addition to pre-judgment interest and costs. Punitive damages were assessed against Jones in the amount of $2 million.

The case is Larsen v. Jones, et al., No. D-1-GN-13-004321. Ms. Larsen is represented by Brian N. Hail, Brian E. Mason, and Gaby Gutierrez Rawlings.

With Donald Trump in the White House, pro-business groups see an opening for a series of bills moving through the House that would discourage class actions and generally make it harder to sue businesses, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.

One bill would restrict plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees to a percentage of the amount actually distributed to the class, writes Paul Barrett. “That could effectively kill off suits that seek a change in corporate behavior and pay class members little or nothing in damages.”

Professor John Coffee Jr. of Columbia Law School wrote on his Blue Sky Blog that a proposed restriction barring plaintiffs’ firms from repeatedly representing the same client in class actions “seems either a death sentence for the large plaintiffs’ firm or the end of large public pension funds serving as lead plaintiff.”

Read the Bloomberg article.

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Exterro has published a new e-discovery guide called The Comprehensive Guide to Early Case Assessment. The guide can be downloaded at no charge.

The guide discusses how the concept of ECA is changing in today’s digital age and provides tips for creating an ECA strategy to get to the facts of a case quickly.

The guide includes:

• 22 pages of best practices for incorporating e-discovery considerations effectively in your ECA strategy
• Six chapters on everything you need to know about ECA, including new techniques for quickly accessing and assessing case data
• One custodian interview template and one ECA checklist for implementing a winning ECA process

Download the e-discovery guide.

The House is poised to pass three bills this week championed by industry that may tilt the civil litigation process in favor of business in thousands of cases each year, reports Bloomberg BNA.

The far-reaching bills address class actions, asbestos cases and attorneys who file “frivolous” suits, writes Bruce Kaufman.

The fast-track approach is deemed essential to give the bills time to advance in the more-deliberative Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome an almost certain filibuster.

The bill rewrites class-action practice, aids defendants striving to keep cases out of plaintiff-friendly state courts, punishes attorneys who file dubious claims, and seek to put new limits on settlements entered into by the Department of Justice and the EPA. They also would require more disclosures by asbestos victims who seek compensation from bankruptcy trusts.

Read the Bloomberg article.

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