We are litigating several pending constitutional class actions on behalf of thousands of people in Alabama whose constitutional rights were violated by for-profit probation company Judicial Correction Services (JCS) and municipal government actors. The Evans Law Firm of Birmingham, Alabama filed these cases in federal court beginning in 2012, and Public Justice joined as co-counsel…
We were lead counsel representing the nation’s largest organization of independent cattle producers, R-CALF USA, and the Cattle Producers of Washington, in a suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, alleging that USDA regulations enacted in 2016 that allow beef and pork to be classified as “domestic products” even when those meat products are slaughtered…
Public Justice’s Leslie Brueckner is co-lead counsel in this California Supreme Court appeal that concerned an issue of enormous importance to consumers and tort victims throughout the State: whether the “economic-loss rule” precludes recovery of purely economic damages arising out one of the most serious environmental disasters in California (if not U.S.) history. The appeal…
Public Justice is co-lead counsel in a California Supreme Court case that presents an important issue of class certification: whether a plaintiff must demonstrate that absent class members can be identified, or “ascertained,” at the class certification stage. Our position is that, at most, Rule 23 and the analogous California rule regulating class actions require that…
Public Justice and its co-counsel represent 127 survivors of sexual abuse by Ohio State University doctor Richard Strauss. They are among the potentially thousands of male students, workers, and visitors sexually abused by Dr. Strauss while he was employed by Ohio State. The lawsuit alleges that OSU knew about, facilitated, and concealed Dr. Strauss’s serial…
Ninety percent of the prescription drugs consumed in the United States are generic forms of brand-name drugs. But under U.S. Supreme Court case law, generic drug companies can’t be sued for failing to warn consumers of the dangers of their drug, no matter how inadequate the label may be. Public Justice was lead counsel before…
In this consumer class action, the plaintiffs alleged that Herb Thyme Farms, Inc. deliberately mixed organic herbs with non-organic herbs and sold them to the public as “100% organic.” Herb Thyme argued that the consumers’ state law claims were preempted by federal law governing certification of organic products. Herb Thyme Farms had one small farm…
This is a civil rights and negligence case on behalf of Victoria Hewlett, a former Utah State University (USU) student who, at age 19, was raped and beaten at a fraternity party by a USU student with a known history of sexual violence and harassment. Both USU and the fraternity knew about the perpetrator’s history…
This is a civil rights and negligence case against a West Virginia school district and sheriff’s department on behalf of a biracial high school student assaulted with a blade after the school district ignored repeated reports of racial cyberbullying and threats by her attacker, a white female student with a history of violence. Our client,…