Bob Van Voris

March 02, 2001 | Law.com

Days before a hearing on a controversial class action settlement in a case against Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., Santa Fe, N.M., sole practitioner George Gary Duncan, the lawyer representing the class, backed out of the deal. He disclosed that more than 500 class members objected to the proposed settlement, which would have provided no money for class members but millions in fees for Duncan.

By Bob Van Voris

2 minute read

February 19, 2002 | Law.com

As the Justice Department finalizes its compensation program for families of Sept. 11 victims, lawyers are asking about another group of potential victims: What happens to the unknown number of people who may become ill from breathing toxic chemicals dispersed by the collapse and cleanup of the World Trade Center? Attorney Michael Barasch has already filed nearly 1,000 notices of claim on behalf of firefighters and rescue workers.

By Bob Van Voris

5 minute read

March 21, 2002 | Law.com

Does the public suddenly love Big Tobacco? Maybe not, but the latest National Law Journal/DecisionQuest Juror Outlook Survey suggests that other companies -- airlines, asbestos manufacturers, drug makers among them -- have worse images these days. After casting it as top corporate bad guy for almost a decade, most jurors seem ready to give Big Tobacco a fair shake in court, according to the annual survey.

By Bob Van Voris

6 minute read

September 10, 2001 | Law.com

Wal-Mart failed to take security precautions suggested by one of its in-house lawyers the year before Donna Meissner's store parking lot abduction and rape in Texas, a confidential company memorandum shows. But when Meissner sued the company, Wal-Mart lawyers failed to turn over the document. It's just the latest episode in what has become a battle over Wal-Mart's failure to turn over evidence in cases across the country.

By Bob Van Voris

6 minute read

April 30, 2002 | Law.com

Given its bad ink, you'd think the prescription painkiller OxyContin would have prompted a potentially bankrupting wave of lawsuits. So far at least, you'd be wrong. The medicine has been linked to 464 overdose deaths, and abuse of the drug in rural areas has earned it the nickname "hillbilly heroin." Despite early enthusiasm for suing manufacturer Purdue Pharma, many plaintiffs' lawyers are steering clear of OxyContin cases.

By Bob Van Voris

5 minute read

March 23, 2001 | Law.com

Just weeks after a mistrial in a billion-dollar case against Big Tobacco, another billion-dollar case goes to trial in the same Brooklyn, N.Y., courtroom today. Lawyers for Blue Cross and Blue Shield health care plans will try to convince a Brooklyn federal jury that the tobacco industry should reimburse them for money paid to treat sick smokers.

By Bob Van Voris

5 minute read

January 26, 2001 | Law.com

Lawyers in the tobacco wars have long assumed that George W. Bush would put an end to the assault on Big Tobacco. Two tobacco suits are proceeding in Florida, plus the Justice Department's suit -- but recently, DOJ-designate John Ashcroft claimed that he's "no friend of the tobacco industry." Big Tobacco foes are left debating whether Bush will pull the plug on the federal suit or just choke off its funding.

By Bob Van Voris

8 minute read

January 09, 2002 | Law.com

Trial Lawyers Care, a pro bono program set up by the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, hadn't represented a single client by the end of 2001. So why is ATLA getting a 2001 Pro Bono award? Because ATLA made an open-ended promise to represent, for free, all the families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks who choose to sign on to a federal compensation program -- and so far, about 3,000 lawyers have volunteered to act as counsel.

By Bob Van Voris

7 minute read

April 01, 2002 | Law.com

With all the legal and public relations problems the Catholic Church has had recently, the last thing church leaders need is to be called gangsters. But that's what St. Paul, Minn., lawyer Jeffrey Anderson has done, suing a group of Catholic bishops for allegedly violating federal anti-racketeering laws. Other lawyers say Anderson's use of the RICO statute in sexual abuse cases will face an uphill fight.

By Bob Van Voris

8 minute read

March 26, 2012 | Daily Report Online

After several drinks at a Greek restaurant on Manhattan's Third Avenue in the summer of 2006, two computer programmers at Bernard Madoff's investment firm asked their supervisor whether the boss' business was a scam.Chief Financial Officer Frank DiPascali laughed off the question, telling George Perez and Jerome O'Hara that Madoff was honest.

By David Glovin and Bob Van Voris

8 minute read