Learn about the state of autonomous vehicles, emerging liability theories, and Tesla’s autopilot lawsuits in my latest blog.
Jetson’s Flying Cars They’re Not, But Autonomous Vehicles Have Hit the Litigation Road
Hot Product Liability Cases to Watch in 2024
Social Media and teen mental health at the forefront of 2024 groundbreaking cases.
A series of significant cases will capture the attention of product liability counsel in 2024. The lawsuits hinge on groundbreaking theories concerning social media and teen mental health, emerging health risks of “forever chemicals,” and the opiate crisis. Read the full article here.
Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Profession: Are Lawyers Using it?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been part of the legal field for a while. It has grown from litigators using it to rapidly review mountains of discovery documents to many additional use cases today. AI-enabled legal technology is pervasive, though not all law firms are using it. Even the latest headline-generating AI technology—ChatGPT—has made its debut in legal.
Let’s review exactly what AI is and how lawyers have been using the technology. We’ll also look at the emergence of ChatGPT and how it might impact the legal profession.
Read more of my latest article here. #legalai #legaltech #legalchatgpt
$1 Billion Settlement Tentatively Reached in Tragic Surfside Condo Collapse
More than 20 entities have agreed to pay nearly $1 billion to settle a class action lawsuit over the 2021 collapse of a residential building in Surfside, Florida. Ninety-eight people died in the tragic building failure. The proposed settlement announcement was a surprise in this slow-moving class action. Presiding Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michae.l Hanzman must approve the proposed settlement. Hazman called the development “fantastic” and commented that the amount was higher than he expected.
Read more on how this happened and settlement details here.
Update: the judge approved the $1B settlement on June 23, 2022
Johnson & Johnson Employs Bankruptcy Strategy to Cap Litigation Payouts
The massive healthcare and consumer goods company, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), has faced an onslaught of lawsuits over asbestos-contaminated talcum powder for over a decade. In an apparent effort to cap cancer victim payout liabilities the J&J shifted liability for tens of thousands of talcum powder lawsuits to a newly created subsidiary that promptly filed for bankruptcy. Read more here.
Apple’s Epic 14 Hour Deposition of Epic Games Expert Witness
Participating in a deposition is a common occurrence for expert witnesses. What’s less common is a request for 14 hours of deposing for a single expert. But this is exactly what transpired in a recent case in California’s Northern District. The presiding judge in Epic Games, Inc. v. Apple Inc. granted Apple’s lengthy request to depose one of Epic’s expert witnesses. Given this outcome, attorneys and their expert witnesses will want to think twice before submitting all-encompassing, bulky expert reports in complicated cases. Read full blog here
Law firms adapt business acceptance and timekeeping to succeed
The business of law is changing. All corners of law firms are adapting to respond to outside counsel guidelines, growth strategies and mobile lawyer demands. Check out some recent Guest Blogs to learn more about these emerging challenges and how firms can overcome them with business acceptance and timekeeping technology advances.
EU Tax Man Cometh for Apple
The EU tax man is catching up with Apple. On Friday Apple put $1.76 billion into a tax escrow to comply with the 2016 EU order that Ireland reclaim back taxes from Apple. Two years ago the EU Commission ruled that Ireland’s tax arrangements with Apple amounted to state aid, violating EU competition law. While Apple and Dublin are challenging the ruling, they were forced to establish and start funding an escrow account for the $16 billion in back taxes and interest.
Over the years many EU countries — prominently Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg — have encouraged US companies to set up offshoots in their countries with very favorable tax incentives. In Europe, these tax schemes were dubbed “double Irish” or “Dutch sandwich” in the 1980s. The tax strategies were a way for some EU countries to grow their economies and employment ranks with local big foreign brand operations. Today, Apple employs around 5,000 people in its Cork facility.
Under similar EU rulings Starbucks paid back taxes to the Netherlands, while Amazon and Fiat paid Luxembourg tax authorities.
In recent years, Margrethe Vestager, EU Competition Commissioner, has stepped up investigations of behemoth US tech companies for various competition transgressions. EU countries who now rely on US and other international companies for significant employment and tax revenues worry about the ramifications of the zealous commissioner. Other EU nations applaud the actions they see as long overdue.
Marketers Shift Away from Campaign-based Thinking
“What has been interesting for us has been to see the gradual change amongst marketers who are only now starting to recognize the need to shift away from campaign-based thinking to a more comprehensive mindset for content and customer engagement,” says Jamie Posnanski of Accenture. Read more on 2018 content marketing trends here . 
Is your marketing strategy evolving towards content and customer engagement?
What’s all this talk about digital transformation?
Digital transformation: Some organizations see it as a scary idea, wreaking revolutionary, unsettling changes. Others are curious — just what does this buzzword mean and what are we transforming into? Regardless of your viewpoint, your enterprise seriously needs to understand and chart its course to becoming a digital ninja. Like it or not, your success depends on how quickly your organization captures, absorbs and uses digital information. Read more
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