Class action lawsuit, investigation follow infant deaths in Fisher-Price’s Rock ‘n Play Sleeper

Photo credit: Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post, as reported on 5/30/19.

Photo credit: Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post, as reported on 5/30/19.

A few weeks ago, a press release Wolf Haldensteinand Connors LLP announce that on April 19, 2019, that firm had filed “a consumer class action lawsuitagainst Fisher-Price, Inc. and its corporate parent Mattel Inc. (“Defendants”) on behalf of Cassandra Mulvey and all other owners of Fisher-Price’s Rock ‘n Play Sleeper since 2009, alleging violations of consumer protection laws, breach of warranty, unjust enrichment and other claims. The case, Mulvey v. Fisher–Price, Inc. and Mattel, Inc.,Case No. 1:19-cv-00518 (W.D.N.Y.), is pending in United States District Court for the Western District of New York  in Buffalo, New York, where Fisher-Price, Inc.  is located.”

You can read the full complaint here

The Washington Post did an in-depth investigation on the case about how “Fisher-Price developed its revolutionary Rock ‘n Play sleeper based on faulty beliefs about infant sleep, without safety testing and without consulting a pediatrician.”

According to WaPo, “last month, the Rock ‘n Play was recalledby Fisher-Price after a series of infant deaths. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which helped coordinate the recall, said more than 30 babies died in the product after they turned over while unrestrained or ‘under other circumstances.'”

The bleak state of the immigration court system

markus-spiske-1475927-unsplashA recent article by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) outlines the current state of the immigration court system and it is bleak: “In a report released earlier this year, the American Bar Association described the U.S. immigration court system as facing an ‘existential crisis,’ an ‘irredeemably dysfunctional’ system ‘on the brink of collapse.'”

The report notes a backlog of 900,000 cases quoting The Economist: “People will die of old age in America before they ever acquire the legal right to live in America. This is an extraordinary failure to govern.”

According to the article, Trump’s new regulations have just exacerbated the problem, comparing the complexity of the immigration courts system to the tax code. They also note that the massive backlog of cases “have led to judges rushing to complete cases, compromising their ethical obligations and violating immigrants’ due process rights…”

Judges require lawyers to disclose third-party funding

photo-1555374018-13a8994ab246Judges are requiring plaintiffs’ lawyers to disclose third-party funding in lawsuits, revealing those who have a stake in cases.

An article by The Recorder at law.com reports on this possible trend.

“As rule makers and politicians continue to debate about whether to disclose third-party funding in multidistrict litigation, some federal judges have forged ahead in requiring plaintiffs lawyers to do just that,” The Recorder reports.

Recently, U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers, in Pensacola, Fla., ordered plaintiffs’ lawyers to disclose how they are funding hundreds of lawsuits brought by U.S. service members over 3M’s combat earplug cases, the site notes.

“The motivations behind such orders aren’t entirely clear,” the article notes.

“Judges might simply want to know whether plaintiffs attorneys have enough money” to fund the entire lawsuit, one source says.

Apple Supreme Court ruling opens doors for more legal action against tech giants

Photo Credit: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg as reported by the Washington Post.

Photo Credit: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg as reported by the Washington Post.

The Supreme Court ruled today that consumers could proceed with a large antitrust class action lawsuit against Apple.  

The New York Times reports that the justices decided “that the plaintiffs should be allowed to try to prove that the technology giant had used monopoly power to raise the prices of iPhone apps.”

The report explains, “Apple charges a 30 percent commission to software developers who sell their products through its App Store, bars developers from selling their apps elsewhere and plays a role in setting prices by requiring them to end in 99 cents.”

According to the Washington Post, “The 5-4 decision could spell serious repercussions for one of Apple’s most lucrative lines of business, and open the door for similar legal action targeting other tech giants in Silicon Valley.”