Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
'No-Injury' Consumer Class Actions: A Growing Practice By Plaintiffs and a Potential Response By Defendants
Class actions are expensive to defend and uncertain in result. They create a risky situation for defendants and one in which even blameless companies are tempted to pay out large settlements not because liability exists, but simply to avoid the unknown risks involved in a jury trial once a class is certified. Fortunately for defendants, courts are increasingly unwilling to certify classes in product liability actions because of inherent problems in establishing the commonality and typicality needed to consider the plaintiffs' claims as a class.
In an effort to avoid these difficulties and increase the chance of obtaining class certification, plaintiffs' counsel recently have been changing their tactics in product liability class action litigation. In place of filing traditional injury class actions, they instead have been filing more and more economic 'no-injury' class actions, in which the proposed class members seek to recover not for personal injury, but for their alleged economic losses in purchasing a product that is worth 'less' than they paid for it because of some alleged defect.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.