Before becoming LegalReader's Editor-in-Chief, Jay W. Belle Isle worked as a freelance copywriter with clients on four continents. Jay has a degree in Business Administration from Cleary University and a Juris Doctor from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Jay has also worked as a contracts administrator for a DOD contractor specializing in vehicle armor.
This week’s Feel Good Friday is brought to you by corporate greed and those of us who despise it. Unlike the usual Feel Good Friday article, this post doesn’t highlight an individual lawyer, a law firm, or a legal organization. This one is more of a public service piece suggested to me by a very
Friday, April 28 was not a good day for Johnson & Johnson and its Ethicon division. The most recent suit over the giant corporation’s TVT-Secur transvaginal mesh concluded and the jury found in favor of plaintiff, Margaret “Peggy” Engleman. The eight-woman, four-man jury awarded Ms. Engleman $20 million, the third multimillion-dollar verdict against J&J in
When you say the words “asbestos” and “mesothelioma,” the first thing to comes to many people’s minds is often “isn’t that problem about over?” Sadly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), asbestos is still a big public health problem. In fact, mesothelioma and asbestosis, along with other asbestos-related conditions, are still
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) new rule regarding Camp Lejeune veterans who were exposed to contaminated water during their time at the base became effective on March 14, 2017. The rule allows affected veterans suffering from eight different diseases related to the water exposure to file for disability benefits. It works in conjunction with
Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson broke their highly expensive losing streak in the suits involving talc and ovarian cancer. The company lost three trials in 2016 prior to this latest; the verdicts from those trials total over $190M. How did this trial differ from the previous three? J&J changed its legal representation, for one
Valentine’s Day brought more than candy hearts and sweet cards for LGBTQ residents of Jacksonville, Florida this year. Justice was done as Jacksonville passed an ordinance protecting LGBTQ residents from housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It took five years of fighting, but the Jacksonville City Council finally did the right thing despite opposition from some Christians focused on cherry-picking arguments from the Bible.
Due to a recent, and frankly overdue, change to a law covering divorce and domestic violence cases, Alaskan pets get legal protection that elevates them from being considered as mere property in such instances. Alaska is the first state to pass a law requiring judges to take “into consideration the well-being of the animal.” Hopefully, this is the beginning of a trend.
Another Takata airbag recall has hit the news. This time, BMW is recalling 230,117 late model cars and SUVs, adding to the 900,000 it recalled in 2015. The recalled vehicles may have defective Takata driver side airbag inflators that were installed as part of a previous recall or as replacements after the vehicles were involved in accidents in which the airbags deployed.
Monsanto is unhappy over a recent California ruling that could allow state regulators to add glyphosate, the principal ingredient in the Big Ag giant’s Roundup® weed killer, to the state’s list of carcinogenic chemicals. Judge Kristi Culver Kapetan of the Fresno County Superior Court issued a tentative ruling against Monsanto in the company’s bid to keep glyphosate off that list. The judge said the formal ruling would be forthcoming soon. Once issued, California can not only add the chemical to its list of carcinogens, but it can add warning labels to Monsanto’s products. It would be the first state to do so.
Now that the post-inauguration dust has mostly settled, the new Commander-in-Chief is setting about the task of fulfilling his promise to “Make America Great Again.” One of his targets is Big Pharma and the industry’s fondness for jacking drug prices so high you almost need the Hubble telescope to see them. Of course, the industry is not about to take this without fighting back. Even Martin Shkreli, Big Pharma’s former bad boy, has some things to say about it (and not what you’d expect). I’m glad I’m sitting down to write this because I’m about to say something I never imagined: I agree with both of these gentlemen, Trump and Shkreli, on this issue.