#1 Double Whammy for Veterans Seeking Disability Benefits, Medical CareWashington, DC - On March 5, the U.S. Supreme Court made it much more difficult for veterans to challenge denials of disability benefits. The result in the consolidated Bufkin v. Collins and Thorton v. Collins lawsuits seemingly abandons the Veterans Administration’s longstanding “benefit-of the-doubt” rule in disability determinations. This rule requires the VA to “give the benefit of the doubt” to the claimant whenever there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence on any material issue.
#2 Class Actions Against Acne Manufacturers Contain Benzene ContaminationSanta Clara, CA - Since March 2024, acne-benzene class action lawsuits have been filed against manufacturers, including L'Oreal and Johnson & Johnson. But it took a year for the FDA to conduct its own testing: It found six products with elevated benzene levels, which resulted in voluntary recalls. However, according to several sources, the FDA could be down-playing the risk of benzene contamination in acne products.
#3 California Appeals Court Upheld $400,000 Cannabis Driver SettlementLos Angeles, CA - A dispatcher with The Highest Craft LLC disputed a $400,000 settlement with the cannabis company and a delivery driver, arguing the deal was unfair or insufficiently investigated. But a ruling on June 24th by a California Appeals Court rejected the dispatcher’s challenge, whose wage-and-hour claims were included in the settlement.
#4 California Plant Nursery Pays $2.5 million in back wagesLos Angeles, CA - Altman Specialty Plants LLC has agreed to pay its workers $2.5 million in back wages and about $1 million in civil money penalties after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation determined that the largest horticultural grower in the U.S coerced workers to quit so it could dodge the H-2A temporary agricultural program’s wage and hour requirements.
#5 Wage Trouble Brewing in Craft Beer IndustryWashington, DC - It’s summer, the temperature is roasting, and temptation is in the air. If you are a footloose, fancy-free twenty-something, doesn’t working in a craft brewery/brew pub sound like a blast? Or if you are a serious brew master, might this be the chance to break the corporate chains with some fellow IPA enthusiasts? It’s all good -- all creative.
#6 Lawsuits Allege Insurers Colluded to Limit Coverage in Wildfire AreasSacramento, CA - Over 200 insurers are facing antitrust and unfair competition lawsuits filed by homeowners in wildfire areas, including Pacific Palisades and Altadena. California homeowners claim that the insurers colluded over the past few years to limit coverage in these high-risk areas and the insurers formed a “group boycott” to terminate policies in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Altadena and other fire-prone neighborhoods in early 2023 and then refused to write new policies. Homeowners were left with no choice: they were forced onto the FAIR plan, California’s more costly last-resort insurance plan. According to court documents, many homeowners suffered massive uncovered losses from January's wildfire disaster.
#7 Jersey Man Sues Novo Nordisk Over OzempicFreehold, NJ - In a phrase (likely erroneously) attributed to Josef Stalin, "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic." But let’s update that and apply it to the situation of many people who, like Edward Fanelli, lost his sight after taking Ozempic. The next chewy thought may have been captured by Dylan Thomas in A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London. He stubbornly refuses to normalize the tragedy in the last line of his poem:
#9 Hair Relaxer Litigation Heating UpSanta Clara, CA - New chemical hair straightener claims are joining more than 12,000 hair relaxer cancer lawsuits that have been filed over the past three years and new claims are being filed alleging hair straighteners resulted in the development of uterine cancer, endometrial cancer or ovarian cancer. Hair relaxers are also linked to breast cancer. Some women who used hair relaxers in their teens and diagnosed with cancer decades later are also filing claims as hair relaxers can take a long time to develop.
