In the News

Plaintiffs’ attorneys are spending billions of dollars saturating the airwaves with advertisements that target prescription drugs and medical devices for lawsuits. Many of these ads are misleading and alarmist; some have led to the deaths of frightened consumers who stopped taking their medications after seeing such commercials.

The Federal Trade Commission staff has sent letters to seven legal practitioners and lead generators expressing concerns that some television advertisements that solicit clients for personal injury lawsuits against drug manufacturers may be deceptive or unfair under the FTC Act.

Private equity is increasingly pouring money into medical device mass tort litigation, including ads soliciting plaintiffs for lawsuits, panelists at The MedTech Conference in Boston said on Tuesday. Many of these ads feature FDA’s logo, making them look more like public health alerts, which can alarm less informed or often elderly television viewers.

Many Texas judges say the “R” or “D” after their names do not impact their rulings on the bench. But a new study shows that when Democrats swept appellate benches in the Lone Star State’s major metro areas, there was a huge impact on civil rulings—which helped plaintiffs.

When National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr. was alive, the American Civil Liberties Union was a frequent target of his barbs. Once he even devoted an episode of “Firing Line” to a debate on the proposition “Resolved: The ACLU is full of baloney.”

A record 89 percent of senior business executives say a state’s lawsuit climate impacts important company decisions such as where to locate or do business, according to a new national survey measuring the relative fairness of the nation’s 50 state lawsuit climates.

The Legislature this year approved Senate Bill 1189 to protect Texans from such deception. Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new law that will prohibit certain statements and require warnings and disclosures for legal services advertisements, and ultimately penalize those who violate the rules.

The TLR Foundation published a paper on the Texas Citizens Participation Act in December 2017, describing in more detail the breadth and misuse of the law. It is available at this link.

In a move that appeared preordained after his comments at an August hearing, U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster approved an unprecedented “negotiation class” of every city and county nationwide to try and reach a global settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors.

Top law schools, prestigious judicial clerkships and Big-Law pedigree are commonalities among three Texas Supreme Court justices that Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed to fill vacancies in recent years.