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DOJ Launches Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program

In 2024, the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division launched the Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program to combat corporate crime. The Corporate Whistleblower Pilot Program will run through 2027, before being re-evaluated, and is modeled on other successful whistleblower programs like those administered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The Pilot Program is designed …

Tabletop Fire Pits Can Explode, Cause Serious Burn Injuries and Death

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning consumers to immediately stop using alcohol-burning or other liquid fuel tabletop fire pits following two deaths and at least 60 injuries in the past five years. Tabletop fire pits — also called fire pots, miniature fireplaces and personal fireplaces — are small, portable fireplaces that can be placed on a tabletop or …

NHTSA Issues Final Rule for Auto Whistleblower Program

On December 12, 2024, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published the final rule formalizing its whistleblower program, as required by the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act. The final rule deviates little from the rule proposed by NHTSA in April 2023, which addressed definitions of key program terms, tip-filing requirements, award applications, how decisions are made on award applications, …

SEC Obtains Orders for a Record $8.2 Billion in Financial Remedies in Fiscal Year 2024

In fiscal year 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed 583 enforcement actions and obtained orders for $8.2 billion in financial remedies—the most ever obtained by the SEC in a single fiscal year. The $8.2 billion consisted of $6.1 billion in disgorgement and prejudgment interest and $2.1 billion in civil penalties. The SEC also obtained orders barring 124 individuals from serving …

When Fun Toys Kill: The Products Liability Case Against Water Beads

Water beads are sold for children as toys, educational materials, art materials, sensory tools, and as projectiles for “gel blaster” guns. Adults use them as decorative, crafting and gardening supplies. When these small, colorful beads are swallowed by children, they do not simply get digested and pass through a child’s body. Instead, they absorb fluids and expand to many times …

The Products Liability Case Against Tianeptine: The Deadly “Dietary Supplement” Found at Your Local Store

You see them displayed by the cash register. Neptune’s Fix and other tianeptine-based products promise to help brain function, treat anxiety and depression, and even manage opioid addiction. Unbeknownst to many consumers, these products have been associated with severe adverse medical events, including seizures and even deaths. This article, written by John M. Dodig and Jason A. Daria and published in …

Fisher-Price Recalls Snuga Swings After Five Infant Deaths

In a recall that one federal safety regulator has characterized as “doomed to fail,” Fisher-Price is offering its customers $25 to remove components from its Snuga Swings — which have been linked to five infant deaths — instead of offering a meaningful remedy that would get this unsafe product out of people’s homes. On October 10, 2024, Fisher-Price announced the recall …

Lawmakers Seek to Address Supersized Vehicles That Kill Pedestrians

Federal lawmakers have introduced legislation aimed at reducing the number of pedestrians who are killed and seriously injured in crashes with supersized passenger vehicles. Recent government data show that there are more than 40,000 fatal car crashes per year in the United States. Between 2013 and 2022, pedestrian fatalities increased 57 percent from 4,779 to 7,522, according to the National Highway …

CPSC Warns Against Two Cradle Swings That Pose Suffocation and Fall Hazards

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning parents and caregivers to stop using DNYSYSJ and OUKANING cradle swings due to the risk of suffocation and falls. According to the CPSC, the cradle swings violate federal safety regulations for bassinets and cradles. The warning, issued on August 15, 2024, states that the “folds” of the cradle swing’s segmented sleeping pad …

March 7th, 2012

Spina bifida is a very serious developmental disorder in which a child’s neural tube (the spinal cord and its surrounding tissue) does not close completely. For this reason, it is often known as an NTD, or neural tube disorder. Other disorders that fall under this …

February 21st, 2012

As we have written about before on this blog, rising medical costs are often attributed to increases in doctors’ malpractice insurance premiums due to so-called “frivolous” litigation. This is certainly what many in the media and in politics will have you believe because it squarely places …

February 15th, 2012

Amaris Elliott-Engel wrote an article in The Legal Intelligencer (which will be excerpted here, although premium access is required to view the full text) about the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives’ recent push to enact a piece of tort reform legislation that would cap punitive …

February 8th, 2012

A new law has recently gone into effect that may help you worry a bit less the next time you find yourself driving next to a tractor-trailer on a highway. In early January of this year, the United States Department of Transportation’s ban on commercial …

February 1st, 2012

As Facebook encroaches more and more into our daily lives, it was only a matter of time before judges would begin taking it into account when making legal decisions. As reported recently by The Legal Intelligencer, a local judge has just weighed-in with his opinion …

January 18th, 2012

Diane Sawyer and her ABC World News team recently produced a segment about medical malpractice and its costs (financial, emotional, and physical). Sawyer presents a startling figure that is enough to scare any American: one in three patients who enter a hospital will face a medical …

January 11th, 2012

It is a tragic fact of life that medical malpractice exists; stories of incorrect diagnoses, improper prescriptions, failed operations and the like are never out of the headlines for long. Contrary to what we hear in the media, however, medical malpractice does not always fall …

January 4th, 2012

The American Association for Justice (AAJ) recently published a short pamphlet catchily titled Do As I Say, Not As I Sue, an attack on the hypocrisy of the United States Chamber of Commerce, that shadowy pro-corporate lobbying group mentioned a few posts ago in reference to the …

December 15th, 2011

The international weekly newspaper “The Economist” published an article in its September 29, 2011 issue about the judicial branch of the government, calling it “the feeblest branch,” due to the lack of funding and public and media attention it receives relative to legislators and executives. …

December 7th, 2011

As an addition to the tort reform legislation passed in Texas in 2003, the state’s government is now in the process of implementing a “loser pays” law, which is one of the most contentious recent developments to fall under the umbrella of tort reform. In …

November 23rd, 2011

As mentioned in Personal Injury — The Myth of the Frivolous Lawsuit — Hot Coffee Part I, after premiering at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, the documentary Hot Coffee made its television debut on HBO. The movie addresses mandatory arbitration, corporate financing of judicial campaigns, …

November 16th, 2011

After premiering at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, the documentary Hot Coffee made its television debut on HBO. The first movie directed by former attorney Susan Saladoff addresses complex problems in the country’s civil justice system including mandatory arbitration, corporate financing of judicial campaigns, caps on …