Digital Toy Product Company Ducks Data Breach Class Action
- For the second time, an Illinois federal judge powered down a proposed class action against VTech Electronics following a 2015 data breach of its internet-connected digital learning toys. The data breach also triggered separate allegations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that VTech violated... ›
Bristol-Myers Squibb: A Dangerous Sword
By: Claudia M. Vetesi
On June 19, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that has the potential to reshape the way class actions are litigated in courts throughout the country. In Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California,[1] or BMS, the court clarified the scope... ›Here’s the Recipe: How to Ensure Your Food and Beverage Company Will Be Ready for a Value-Maximizing Sale
By: Spencer D. Klein, Joseph Sulzbach and Domnick Bozzetti
You’ve created a great product and built a valued brand. You’ve devoted countless hours to building relationships with key distributors and retailers, designing attractive packaging, and forging a social media presence. But are you doing everything to ensure that your business is set up... ›Time Is Money: Time Spent Resolving Issues Arising from Data Breaches Enough to Plead Standing and Damages
By: Tiffany Cheung
Another court has allowed individuals to move past the preliminary stages of litigation by finding that “lost time” and the “time value of money” are injuries. Building on its prior rulings allowing data breach cases to jump over standing hurdles, on April 11, 2018, in... ›CPSC Will Sharpen Its Focus on IoT in Upcoming Public Hearing About Internet-Connected Devices
By: Julie Y. Park
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that on May 16, 2018, it will hold a public hearing on “potential safety issues and hazards associated with internet-connected consumer products.” [1] The Commission will hear testimony from interested stakeholders on potential safety hazards created... ›Will High Court Provide Clarity On ‘Clear Evidence’?
By: Erin M. Bosman and Julie Y. Park
The U.S. Supreme Court may soon revisit one of its seminal decisions defining products liability law for pharmaceutical manufacturers. That decision — Wyeth v. Levine — addressed whether a branded manufacturer could be held liable for state-law failure-to-warn claims even though federal law regulates... ›WARNING: Proposition 65 Farce About to Repeat Itself for Vulnerable Foods and Flavorings
Plaintiffs have begun serving Proposition 65 notices of violation alleging unwarned exposures to furfuryl alcohol (FFA). Like acrylamide, which has been the subject of significant Proposition 65 litigation already, FFA is present in a wide variety of foods and flavorings and forms as a... ›Round One Goes to Roundup: Court Temporarily Enjoins Proposition 65 Warnings for Glyphosate and Glyphosate Residues in Foods
By: William F. Tarantino
Last Monday, a federal judge temporarily barred California from requiring cancer warnings on products that contain detectable amounts of glyphosate—the main ingredient in Monsanto’s flagship herbicide Roundup. Trace residues of glyphosate in food products had already become a potential target of Proposition 65 bounty... ›Personal Delivery Devices (PDD): New Transportation Frontiers Emerge for Autonomous Vehicle Rulemakers
By: Tessa J. Schwartz
With regulatory frameworks around autonomous vehicles (AVs) under development at the federal, state, and local levels, new autonomous technology frontiers are emerging for rulemakers. The latest is personal delivery devices (PDDs) – essentially small autonomous vehicles designed primarily for last-mile logistics using sidewalks and... ›California Opens the Road to Fully Driverless Cars; Federal Policymaking Slowly Rolls Forward
By: Tessa J. Schwartz
On February 26, 2018, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) announced new regulations allowing fully driverless cars to be tested on California roads as of April 2, 2018. The announcement culminates a multi-year process undertaken by DMV. The new regulations mark a significant... ›