Cases / Briefs

May 9, 2012 Cases / Briefs

In re Universal Service Fund

Appeal to the Tenth Circuit of an order compelling a class of all AT&T long distance customers who do not live in California into individual arbitration pursuant to a class action ban in AT&T’s telephone service contract. The case involves allegations that AT&T has wrongly…

May 9, 2012 Court Secrecy Cases / Briefs

In Re Prempro Liability Litigation

Public Justice represented PLoS Medicine, a medical journal published by the non-profit Public Library of Science, in its effort to intervene in this case to gain access to discovery materials that allegedly demonstrate that Wyeth Pharmaceutical Company engaged in medical ghostwriting to promote its hormone…

May 9, 2012 Cases / Briefs

In Re Ocwen Mortgage Servicing Litigation

Amicus brief addressing the scope of state-law claims preempted by the Home Owners Loan Act, (HOLA) and HOLA regulations promulgated by the Office of Thrift Supervision. Amicus brief addressing the scope of state-law claims preempted by the Home Owners Loan Act, 12 U.S.C. §§ 1461…

May 9, 2012 Cases / Briefs

In Re Cincinnati Radiation Litigation

Challenge to proposed no-opt-out class action settlement of all claims against the University of Cincinnati, the U.S. government, and others for conducting human radiation experiments on hospital patients. We helped stop and improve the proposed no-opt-out class action settlement In Re Cincinnatti Radiation Litigation of…

May 9, 2012 Forced Arbitration Cases / Briefs

Homa v. American Express

This case presented the question of whether, in a case in which the uncontroverted evidence establishes that a company’s class action ban would effectively preclude a party from vindicating his substantive statutory rights, a court could refuse to enforce the arbitration clause notwithstanding the U.S….

May 9, 2012 Cases / Briefs

Heinricher v. Volvo Car Corporation

We handled this appeal of a ruling that common-law claims that a 1990 Volvo sedan was defective because its rear-center seat was equipped with a two-point lap belt, instead of a three-point lap/shoulder belt, are preempted by the governing federal regulatory option. Public Justice Attorney…

May 9, 2012 Cases / Briefs

Haynes v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation d/b/a Amtrak

Challenge to federal preemption defense on behalf of family of a train passenger who developed Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) and died while on a train ride from Chicago to Los Angeles. Opposition to federal preemption defense on behalf of family of a train passenger who…

May 9, 2012 Federal Preemption Cases / Briefs

Harvey v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan

Part of a set of cases against HMOs in Maryland charges that the HMOs violated Maryland law by practicing subrogation. Part of a set of cases against HMOs in Maryland charging that the HMOs violated Maryland law by practicing subrogation. In the state courts, after…

May 9, 2012 Cases / Briefs

Graham v. Security Pacific Housing Services, Inc.

Challenge to proposed Bank of America national consumer class action settlement that would have paid the class $2 million, class counsel $5.4 million, and barred some class members from opting out. We stopped and improved the proposed Bank of America national consumer class action settlement…

May 9, 2012 Cases / Briefs

Graham v. Daimler Chrysler Corporation and Tipton-Whittingham v. City of Los Angeles

We filed amici briefs joined by more than two dozen public interest groups and practitioners, urging the California Supreme Court to uphold the “catalyst theory” as a basis for seeking attorneys’ fees under a California statute that permits fee awards for successful private attorneys general.