A selection of the need-to-know civil justice news for October 21-27.
Justices Consider Waiver of 3rd-Party Liability in Workers’ Comp Cases
Michael Booth | New Jersey Law Journal
Lawyers argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday whether an employment contract limiting a worker’s right to sue a third party after an injury is enforceable.
The Price of Air: Local Lawyer Looks for Fat Sums in Half-Empty Bags of Treats
Aaron Elstein | Crain’s
Last year Nikita Godsonov bought a $1.99 tube of M&M Minis in a Brooklyn drugstore. Upon opening it, he discovered, to his chagrin, that the package wasn’t filled all the way—in fact, about an inch of the tube, 14% to be exact, contained nothing but air. That sweet nothing became the basis for a class-action lawsuit against candymaker Mars brought by New York attorney C.K. Lee. He charged the company with selling a product with “excessive empty space” as well as misleading his client, who thought he was getting a full tube of candy, and an untold numbers of other customers. Mars, perhaps not wanting to explain its packaging in court at the risk of jurors sympathetic to Godsonov awarding millions in damages, settled the case for an undisclosed sum.
Inside Cordray’s Ill-Fated Gamble on CFPB Arbitration Rule
Kate Berry | American Banker
The stunning defeat of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s arbitration rule didn’t have to happen. That was the message from critics and former agency officials who say the bureau erred in how it designed the final rule, putting too much emphasis on class action litigation as a panacea for consumers.
NJ Drink-Price Ruling Stresses Proof Of Consumer Harm
Jeannie O’Sullivan | Law360
The New Jersey Supreme Court’s recent gutting of putative class actions challenging drink prices at TGI Fridays and Carrabba’s restaurants put plaintiffs on notice that even the state’s notoriously consumer-friendly laws require some showing of loss, experts say.
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