Mass Tort Litigation Blog

Hiroko Tanaka Photo Essay on Effects of Agent Orange on Vietnamese Children

CNN.com has a photo essay by Hiroko Tanaka showing deformed Vietnamese children whose conditions may stem from Agent Orange herbicide sprayed by the United States during the Vietnamese War.  The story accompanying the photos discusses the difficulties in tracing causation.  For more on the diseases potentially caused by Agent Orange, see the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs' webpage on Veterans' Diseases Associated with Agent Orange.

Should scholars be thinking about inter-generational mass torts as a distinct subfield, perhaps not only including Agent Orange, but also DES?  Will increasingly global mass tort litigation enable new claims based on the spraying of Agent Orange decades ago?

BGS 

Kelsey Larson and Carlos Lazatin on Crafting a Defense in Food-Labeling Class Actions

Corporate Counsel has a short piece, Crafting a Defense in Food-Labeling Class Actions, by O'Melveny's Kelsey Larson and Carlos Lazatin.

BGS

Skadden Analysis of 2013 Potential Developments in Global Litigation

Skadden has issued a useful analysis of upcoming cases to watch and potential developments for 2013 in class actions and product liability.  The analysis includes contributes by Skadden's John Beisner, J. Russell Jackson, and Jessica Miller.

BGS

Lessons from Chevron: Stanford Journal of Complex Litigation Symposium

The Stanford Journal of Complex Litigation is hosting a symposium on the Chevron Litigation on February 8, 2013.   Our own Howard Erichson will be speaking on the ethics of transnational litigation. 

Here is a description:

The ongoing litigation between Chevron and the people of Lago Agrio, Ecuador regarding alleged environmental harms dating from Texaco’s oil exploration and extraction in Ecuador now spans three continents and nearly twenty years; and concerns the largest judgment ever awarded in an environmental lawsuit, eighteen billion dollars.  The litigation has been called both “a shakedown,” and “a landmark victory,” yet it continues to be litigated around the world and divide both the bar and the academy.  What are the consequences of this case?  With complex litigation becoming increasingly transnational, what general lessons can be drawn from this case?  These questions are at the heart of SJCL’s inaugural symposium.