Articles

You can't sue businesses just because you don't like something they do

June 03, 2015 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

Yesterday PLF filed this letter brief asking the California Supreme Court to review an Unfair Competition Law (UCL) case that threatens important civil justice reforms enacted by California voters. The UCL forbids any “unfair,” “misleading,” or “unlawful,” business practice.  Once enacted, that broad and ill-def ...

Articles

Must BP compensate people who were never harmed by BP?

September 29, 2014 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

60 minutes has a fascinating piece that illustrates many of the problems with the civil justice system today.  After the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, BP entered into a settlement agreement in which it agreed to pay businesses for losses to that arose following the oil spill.  But plaintiffs’ attorneys interpreted that clause to mean &# ...

Articles

Can just anyone bring a class action on behalf of others?

December 23, 2013 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

Florence Pacleb sued Allstate Insurance for calling him on his cellphone in violation of anti-solitication laws.  Allstate offered to pay the damages Pacleb demanded and his attorney’s fees.  Most courts hold that once a defendant offers to fully satisfy a plaintiff’s claims, the plaintiff’s claims become moot, meaning that t ...

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Court denies Dukes plaintiffs class certification, again

August 09, 2013 | By ANASTASIA BODEN

Last week, district court judge Charles Breyer may have written the last chapter of Wal-Mart v. Dukes, when he denied the plaintiffs’ renewed attempt to bring a massive class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart for sex discrimination.  Remarking on the path of the infamous lawsuit, the brother of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer wrote, ̶ ...