The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is dealing with an unprecedented number of suits triggered by the agency's new rules for greenhouse gases, Jenna Greene reports. At least 38 suits have been filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on behalf of nearly a hundred parties.
Two actions over the last month have moved Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court closer to a collision over mandatory arbitration in consumer and employment contracts, Marcia Coyle reports. The justices have agreed to decide next term whether a class action ban in a cellphone arbitration agreement is unconscionable. On Capitol Hill, financial reform legislation would give government agencies the power to ban or limit mandatory arbitration agreements.
The shareholder litigation involving Toyota Motor Corp. exemplifies the debate over whether it's appropriate for groups of plaintiffs to serve as lead counsel in large shareholder actions, Amanda Bronstad reports. Shareholders sued to recover millions of dollars after Toyota's stock plummeted in January on news the company would shut down its U.S. production plants for a week following a series of recalls. The federal judge who is overseeing the class actions has questioned why several motions for lead counsel status were filed on behalf of large groups rather than individual investors.
Karen Sloan examines the apprenticeship programs at Howrey, Drinker Biddle & Reath and Frost Brown Todd. The firms each unveiled programs during the summer of 2009, partially in response to clients who were reluctant to pay for on-the-job training of young lawyers. Proponents praise apprentice programs as a positive step away from the sink-or-swim environment many young attorneys encounter at large firms.
The American Center for Civil Justice is fighting Baltimore solo practitioner Joshua Ambush over his demand that he is owed $2 million for his work prosecution wrongful death and personal injury claims in a terror suit against Libya in federal district court in Washington. The center's lawyers at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman maintain that Ambush has been fully paid for his work in the suit. Ambush's attorneys at Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver claim the center has broken a contractual obligation.
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