Welcome to Critical Mass, Law.com's weekly briefing for class action and mass tort attorneys. Could lawsuits against insurance firms over COVID-19 coverage denials end up in an MDL? In a key ruling for thousands of talc plaintiffs, a federal judge gave the green light to their experts. Find out which lawyer brought additional lawsuits over the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant.

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Lawyers Want MDL For COVID-19 Insurance Suits

Dozens of lawsuits, many of them class actions, have alleged insurance firms are denying coverage to small businesses with COVID-19 losses. Now, lawyers behind a spate of those cases want the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate them before a single federal judge. Golomb & Honik and Levin Sedran & Berman want the cases in Pennsylvania, while DiCello Levitt Gutzler and The Lanier Law Firm want them in Illinois. Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton and Kanner & Whiteley supported an MDL but in Florida.

The motions, filed last week, focus on 16 lawsuits against eight insurers. But one motion predicted an "avalanche of cases."

Not everyone is on board. Steven Marks (Podhurst Orseck), who filed a class action along with Stephen Zack (Boies Schiller) against Chubb, said he planned to oppose an MDL, which would be "slow and difficult." He also said the MDL panel would be unlikely to coordinate lawsuits against potentially hundreds of insurance firms:

"There is going to be a major issue given the number of insurers, the differences in policies. It doesn't seem to be possible from a management standpoint to have every insurer, and every type of policy, all in one. You have to think about the regulatory laws of 50 different states, which would have different laws applying to each of the policies."

 

Talc Ruling Tees Up "Battle of the Experts"

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson allowed experts on both sides to testify in talcum powder trials against Johnson & Johnson, setting the stage for what she called a "battle of the experts" in cases alleging its baby powder causes ovarian cancer. Leigh O'Dell (Beasley Allen), co-lead counsel in the MDL, said the long-awaited Daubert order "completely obliterates" Johnson & Johnson's argument that "junk science" is behind a series of talcum powder verdicts. In a statement, Johnson & Johnson praised parts of the order under which "plaintiffs will have significant restrictions on what theories its experts can present before the jury."

But that's not all the talc news. On Friday, the Missouri Court of Appeals heard oral arguments over whether to reverse a record $4.7 billion talcum powder verdict against Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson also has asked a New Jersey state court judge to reverse $750 million in punitive damages to four plaintiffs claiming its baby powder caused them to get mesothelioma.

In California, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw dismissed Proposition 65 claims in a class action against Johnson & Johnson and Bausch, although he allowed plaintiffs' firm Potter Handy to amend the complaint. Johnson & Johnson, represented by Peter Bicks, Elyse Echtman and Stacy Harrison (Orrick), said in a statement: "The district court found that the plaintiffs' complaint does not state a viable claim concerning Johnson & Johnson's statements on the safety of Johnson's baby powder or its labeling."

Who Got the Work?

Brian Panish (Panish, Shea & Boyle) filed a pair of wrongful death lawsuits this month on behalf of the other two families whose loved ones were among the nine who died in the Jan. 26 helicopter crash that killed LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant. The lawsuits (here and here), against Island Express Helicopters, follow a case that Brad Brian (Munger Tolles & Olson) filed on behalf of Vanessa Bryant over the deaths of her husband and 13-year-old daughter, Gianna.

Here's what else is happening:

Dechert Dive: A four-lawyer product liability defense team led by Kimberly Branscome left Kirkland & Ellis for Dechert in Los Angeles. Branscome, who defended BP in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill litigation, General Motors in ignition switch cases and Johnson & Johnson in talcum powder trials, will be the new managing partner of Dechert's LA. office. She left with Jay Bhimani and two others. In 2018, Dechert acquired 21 lawyers from Quinn Emanuel including Sheila Birnbaum and Mark Cheffo.

COVID-19 Cases: The coronavirus pandemic spawned more lawsuits in the past week. Here's a quick look:

>>Refunds: Cowper Law, DiCello Levitt Gutzler and Matthew S. Miller LLC filed lawsuits against the California State University and University of California systems. Gainey McKenna & Egleston sued Columbia University, while Toptani Law and the Anastopoulo Law Firm sued Columbia's board of trustees. Hagens Berman and Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings filed a case against Vanderbilt. Hagens Berman also brought class actions against American Airlines and Delta Air Lines (despite the lead plaintiff getting a refund). Milberg, along with Shuman, Glenn & Stecker and Evangelista Worley, filed a case over ski passes to Vail Resorts. And Coffey Burlington sued over a canceled Passover event.

>>Shutdowns: JPMorgan Chase Bank, Ruth's Chris and Phunware Inc. face a class action from Edelson PC alleging they profited from the $349 billion COVID-19 relief loan program designed for small businesses, while Geragos & Geragos and Dhillon Law Group brought a mass action on behalf of "non-essential" Southern California businesses claiming their forced lockdown was unconstitutional.

>>Safety: Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom, Public Justice and Towards Justice filed a public nuisance lawsuit against Smithfield Foods, whose pork processing plant in Missouri remains open while others have closed, including one where 500 employees got coronavirus. The suit came days before President Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order immunizing meat plants from liability.

Thanks for reading Critical Mass! Stay safe, and I'll be back next week.