Litigation based on this tort has grown exponentially – and needs to be governed by clear and reasonable standards.

Before the industrial revolution, the tort of public nuisance was easily understood and reasonably applied. Over the past few decades, new technologies and manufacturing processes evolved. The new processes entailed new techniques, substances, waste disposal methods and habits. Public nuisance litigation adapted to deal with these issues and ultimately evolved to encompass the new problems. Plantiffs’ counsel are now using the tort far beyond its traditional limits and expectations – often involving large cities, regions, coastal areas and water supplies.
Continue Reading Civil Justice Playbook: The Growing Need for Public Nuisance Standards

Article by David Hechler

There was an early television show called Naked City, and it always ended with this voice-over: “There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.” There must be more than eight million in the civil justice litigation docket. Here’s one that highlights an important trend by veering the other way.Continue Reading Civil Justice Playbook: The Exception Highlights the Trend

Article by: Wilfred Coronato / McCarter & English

The year was 1981. “The People’s Court,” “Hill Street Blues” and “Dynasty” all premiered on network television. The price of a first-class stamp rose from 15 to 18 cents. New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority introduced a spiffy brass token with a “Y” cutout in it to cover the 75-cent ride. And New Jersey enacted a statute – the Truth-In-Consumer Contract, Warranty & Notice Act (TCCWNA) – designed to prohibit deceptive terms in consumer contracts, warranties, notices and signs.Continue Reading Litigation at Your Terms of Service: More than 20 lawsuits filed last year claimed that corporate websites violated New Jersey’s consumer protection laws

Article by  Rebecca Love Kourlis & Brittany Kauffman / The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS)

Americans deserve a legal system that can resolve disputes fairly, promptly and cost-effectively. But the truth is that runaway costs, delays and complexity are denying people justice and undermining public confidence in our legal system. Recognizing that this must change, in July 2016 the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) adopted a resolution endorsing 13 recommendations designed to secure the fair, speedy and inexpensive resolution of civil cases in state courts.
Continue Reading Civil Justice Reformers Aim to Modernize State Courts: Leaders call for states to implement 13 recommendations

Interview with Jordan Thomas / Labaton Sucharow LLP

For six years Jordan Thomas has led the whistleblower representation practice at Labaton Sucharow LLP, which specializes in SEC cases. Thomas, a former assistant director in the SEC’s Enforcement Division, has worked as the practice’s sole partner, “borrowing” associates from the firm to help. But in May, as talk of the new administration’s desire to dismantle Dodd-Frank continued to swirl, Thomas made a startling announcement. He had just hired three partners to boost the practice to another level. The new hires were Steven Durham, former chief of the Fraud and Public Corruption Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C.; Timothy Warren, former associate director in the SEC’s Enforcement Division; and Robert Wilson, former deputy assistant director in the Enforcement Division. We couldn’t help but wonder: Why three, and why now? The interview has been edited for style and length.Continue Reading Civil Justice Playbook: Doubling Down on Whistleblowers – Labaton discounts the supposed demise of Dodd-Frank

By David Hechler / Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

The legal industry has gone global. You already knew that. The proof has been abundant for some time. But if anyone had lingering doubts, a report issued in late March should lay them to rest. It’s called The Growth of Collective Redress in the EU: A Survey of Developments in 10 Member States.Continue Reading Zut Alors! Class Actions Have Landed in the EU Deck. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce surveys 10 states

By David Hechler

 When a group of regulators and in-house lawyers got together on April 3, the subject of cooperation came up frequently during their conversation. Nineteen months after the Yates Memorandum, the topic was still very much on their minds.
Continue Reading Conversing (and Cooperating) with the Regulators: A panel discussion veers from Yates to ‘macho litigators’

By David Hechler, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

The Civil Justice Playbook sometimes cribs its best material from the Criminal Justice Playbook. What follows is a prime example.

In early February, the fraud section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division posted a seven-page document that nobody seemed to notice. It’s called Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs [https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/page/file/937501/download] [or bit.ly/2lEphmk], and it’s no wonder it glided under the radar. DOJ posted 89 press releases on its site in February, but there wasn’t one about this. (Maybe the authors should have asked the president to tweet about it.)Continue Reading Civil Justice Playbook: DOJ’s Missed Guidance:Corporate compliance programs would do well to take a long look

By Yvette McGee Brown, Jones Day

Introduction: Yvette McGee Brown, a native of Columbus, Ohio, has had a varied career. She’s been a common pleas court judge, she ran the child abuse and behavioral health division of a children’s hospital, she made a run for lieutenant governor of Ohio, she’s served on the Ohio Supreme Court, and now she is a litigator at Jones Day. Given the diversity of her career, it seems like poetic justice that she serves as Partner-in-Charge of Diversity, Inclusion and Advancement at the firm. Below, she discusses her career and her role in promoting diversity in the profession, at Jones Day and beyond. Her remarks have been edited for length and style.Continue Reading Definitively Driving Diversity: Exposing students to law firm life early can make all the difference

By Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

There’s a new sheriff in lawsuit land.

Displacing California, ranked as the top Judicial Hellhole three of the last four years, is the city of St. Louis, Missouri, which topped the annual Judicial Hellholes report released last month by the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF). The #1 ranking in the report, now in its 15th year, capped an amazing rise that saw the Missouri Supreme Court break into the ranking at #6 three years ago, the state of Missouri hit #4 the last year, and the Gateway City soar – or should we say sink – to the top slot in the 2016-17 report.Continue Reading Civil Justice Playbook: Hail the New Litigation Hell