Personal Injury Roundup No. 9 (9/26/08)

We welcomed the first day of fall this past week, as well as the following news from the world of torts:

Reform, Legislation, Policy

• The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved seven health-policy related bills.  Life Sciences Legal Update provides a concise summary of each bill. 
• FDA gets tough on unapproved meds (specifically eye washes and skin ointments).  [Pharmalot, Reuters, US News, Boston Globe]
• Grace-Leverty study finds tort reform reduces insurance premiums.   [TortsProf]
• Senate panel hears testimony on food marketing to children.  [WaPo/AP]

Experts & Science

• Eli Lilly and Merck will start reporting fees paid to outside doctors, beginning in 2009. [NY Times, Indiana Star, Pharmalot]
• Oregon Supreme Court addresses expert testimony in med-mal cases.  [Day on Torts]

New Lawsuits

• Failure to warn about caffeine in energy drinks?  Not yet, but it may be next.  [WebMD, WCVB Boston]
• Philip Morris sues San Francisco over city ban on pharmacies selling tobacco products. Walgreens filed a similar suit earlier this month.  [SF Chronicle]

Trials, Settlements & Other Ends

• Federal judge dismisses suit alleging casinos had duty to stop plaintiff’s compulsive gambling.  [ABA Journal, Law.com (AP), Court’s opinion]
• NY judge dismisses invasion of privacy suit against Sean Combs based on photos of nude “mermaid” at his infamous White Party.   [TortsProf, Court Opinion]
• Federal district judge in Chicago denies class certification in fraud and unjust enrichment suit against gas producers.  [Am Law Daily, Court Opinion]
• New study finds settling cases is more lucrative for plaintiffs than trial.  [National LJ (via law.com)]

Appeals

• The New York Appellate Division has ruled that the intentional running down of a pedestrian is an “accident” for insurance purposes.  [No Fault Paradise, Court Opinion]
• West Virginia Supreme Court agrees to hear $196.2 million punitive damages award against DuPont.  [Cal Punitive Damages]
• Maryland Supreme Court rejects “duty to world” in products liability case against Eli Lilly. [Mass Tort Defense]
• The Ninth Circuit concludes that Ivory Coast plantation workers who allege that they were sterilized by a U.S.-made pesticide can’t sue the pesticide’s manufacturers and distributors under the Alien Tort Statute.  [SF Chronicle, LA Times, Court Opinion]

Damages

• Judge tosses punitive damages claim against Keanu Reaves. [Cal Punitive Damages]
• No punitive damages for J.R.R. Tolkein’s estate.  [Cal Punitive Damages]

Miscellaneous

• Does Splenda cause obesity?  So says new Duke Study (funded by the Splenda’s competitor, the Sugar Association) [NY Times]

– SBS