Critical Mass: How SCOTUS Roiled Class Action Bar. Plus, Why 'Bristol Myers' Defense Failed in Pa. Case

Critical Mass Law.com Amanda Bronstad U.S. Supreme Court class action waivers Pennsylvania Bristol-Myers “Queen of Toxic Torts” [email protected] @abronstadlaw. ➤➤ Would you like to receive Critical Mass to your inbox? Sign up here.

About That SCOTUS Decision...

U.S. Supreme Court on Monday 5-4 ruling class action waivers arbitration agreements employment contracts. Marcia Coyle Law.com story opinion . wrote Gorsuch Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg trio of cases NLRB v. Murphy Oil USA Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis Ernst & Young v. Morris Federal Arbitration Act National Labor Relations Act.

Here's what many on the plaintiffs' side had to say on Twitter:

➤ Lori Andrus Andrus Anderson ➤ Paul Bland Public Justice #SCOTUS #MurphyOil ➤ The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights http://bit.ly/2x0AS5Z #SCOTUS On the defense side Andrew Pincus Mayer Brown U.S. Chamber of Commerce Seyfarth Shaw Noah Finkel blog post The cases most affected Bloomberg this story Uber But there are limits California's Private Attorney General Act Susan Eisenberg Cozen O'Connor “The arbitration agreement itself still has to be enforceable under whatever the applicable law is. Employers have to ensure that their agreements do meet the laws under which they're trying to get them enforced. If the agreement is not enforceable, for whatever reason, you're back in court.”

Why This Pa. Judge Rejected a 'Bristol-Myers' Defense

Pennsylvania Ethicon 100 pelvic mesh cases U.S. Supreme Court Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California Law.com Max Mitchell here Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Arnold New Johnson & Johnson here May 18 opinion Secant Max told me Bristol-Myers “What I took away from the opinion is that New might not be drilling down quite as deeply as the defendants want in terms of how connected to the conduct the claims need to be in order to have jurisdiction. The defendants were drillingdown very deep into the nitty-gritty of specifically what pieces were manufactured by the Pa. company and whether those specific processes are the basis for the plaintiffs' claims. Judge New basically took a bit of a step back and said, the Pa. company was heavily involved in manufacturing the mesh andthe plaintiffs have specifically alleged defects regarding the mesh and its manufacturing, so there's a sufficient nexus between the conduct and the claims.”

Quinn Products Team Moves to Dechert

Mark Cheffo Sheila Birnbaum Quinn Emanuel Dechert Here Law.com Dan Packel Morgan Tovey Sandra Bresnick Douglas Fleming David Stern Hughes Hubbard & Reed here

Who Got the Work?

K&L Gates Baker McKenzie U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation railroad equipment makers April 3 settlement with the DOJ Thomas Birsic Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp Faiveley Transport North America Inc. Railroad Controls LP Mark Hamer Knorr-Bremse AG Knorr Brake Company LLC New York Air Brake LLC