Mass Tort Litigation Blog

BMS v. California - Oral Argument Yesterday

Yesterday the Supreme Court held oral arguments in a personal jurisdiction case involving purchasers of the drug Plavix who bought the drug in Ohio but wanted to join a suit in California where the company does almost 1 billion dollars worth of business.  There is a marvelous amicus in the case by Alan Morrison who argues for a new test for personal jurisdiction.  Its a "must read" for those of us who think about civil procedure or teach mass torts.

Here is a link to the brief.

 

HR 985 and Congress's Judicial Mistrust

With everything else that's dominated the news, it's easy to place the "Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act" on the back  burner. But to forget that it's still an active bill (having now passed the House and pending before the Senate) would be a mistake.

Professor Myriam Gilles (Cardozo) and I recently published an op-ed with Bloomberg Law, which appeared in yesterday's Product Safety & Liability Reporter and will be in next week's Class Action Litigation Report titled Congress's Judicial Mistrust.  You can read it here:  Download Bloomberg Law - Congress's Judicial Mistrust.

We explained our legal positions more fully in our respective letters to the House Judiciary's subcommittee.  Download Burch Final Comments on Fairness in Class Action Litigation Act,  Download Gilles Letter to James Park on HR 985.