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April 2009 Newsletter |
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 | The Supreme Court's Decision in Wyeth v. Levine and the Impact on Pharmaceutical Litigation
By BAHAR DEJBAN, ESQ. |
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On March 4, 2009, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Wyeth v. Levine. This decision could have resulted in the collapse of the whole field of pharmaceutical litigation. The decision could have resulted in an uphill battle for Plaintiff's attorneys to try to get back what they lost. The decision could have resulted in a loss of consumer's right to any recourse against pharmaceutical companies whose products have harmed them. But...that didn't happen.
[Read More]
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| MICRA - Adding insult to injury?
By KAREN TRAVIS, ESQ. |
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The Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) was enacted in the State of California in 1995 to remedy a perceived crisis in the medical malpractice insurance industry and to head off a possible threat to the availability of health services. At the time, rising medical malpractice liability insurance premiums as a result of 'run away' jury verdicts were felt to be driving physicians out of medical practice in the state, which conceivably could have resulted in a shortage of medical services. Nearly every state enacted some form of medical malpractice reform in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Although each state's reform measures differed, commonly they included provisions that (1) limit non-economic damages against a health care provider to an arbitrary amount (maximum of $250,000 in California); (2) provide for a sliding scale limiting attorney contingency fees; (3) allow the defendant to introduce evidence of payment of medical and related expenses by collateral sources, i.e. health insurance, income-disability insurance; (4) limit recoverable economic damages to lost earnings, loss of future earning capacity, and medical costs ; (5) provide for periodic payments of future economic damages.
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| The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 Amends the Statute of Limitations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
By ROXANNA TABATABAEEPOUR, ESQ. |
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Impacting the force of employment litigation, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 was signed into law on January 29, 2009. Essentially, the Ledbetter Act reverses the 2007 Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618, that gave employees six months after their first allegedly discriminatory paycheck to bring a discrimination claim. This passage brings an end to a long battle between big business and those seeking fair pay.
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