Emerging Litigation Podcast

Jurors' perceptions of big corporations, insurance companies, drug companies, physicians and other healthcare providers is increasingly colored by TV and social media.  The same is true for people's understanding of the practice law or medicine, which may be as wrong as it is immovable. “Social inflation” refers to rising litigation costs and the resulting higher insurance payouts which...

"Your proposition may be good, but let’s have one thing understood: Whatever it is, I’m against it. And even when you’ve changed it or condensed it—I’m against it!" —Professor Wagstaff (Groucho Marx) in the 1932 movie Horse Feathers  Attorney John P. Blumberg ’s new book, Persuasion Science for Trial Lawyers , published by Fastcase Full Court Press , “takes a fascinating new approach to...

In our first two-part episode, we dive into the troubling existence of a group of chemicals referred to as PFAS, with the nickname "Forever Chemicals," because they stubbornly hang around in water, air, fish, soil, people, and animals.   PFAS -- which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl  chemicals -- are man-made creations that have been used in industry and consumer products worldwide s...

“The Telephone Consumer Protection Act had humble beginnings,” our guest writes, “with the bill’s sponsor explaining that the statute would permit consumers to bring small claims cases ‘without an attorney,’ and provides for an ‘amount of damages … fair to both the consumer and the telemarketer.’ Twenty-eight years after its enactment in 1991, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a Distric...

"Attorneys possess many of the same characteristics as their human cousins." Someone said that. Probably me. They often bring to their jobs cognitive barriers that get in the way of negotiating resolutions to conflicts. Same for their human clients. Things like refusal to cede the moral high-ground, or stubbornly believing  there must always be someone to blame. Then there is overconfide...

According to an article written by our guest, "Some of the most exciting, vexing, and terrifying issues at the intersection of AI and law involve robojudges. Can we build a robojudiciary that replaces human judiciaries? Should we? Doing so would massively disrupt how our legal systems operate. It also might transform democratic self-government." I have to ask: Would any of that be so bad...

There are now billions and billions of interconnected devices in the world with more coming online every day. Smart cars. Smart cities. Smart agriculture and so much more. Even our pets are connected. And you have to look no further than the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack to see the real-world consequences of what criminals can pull off by connecting with things large and small. Worried about...

“Facing the prospect of major financial fallout from an attack, C-suites around the world have turned to cyber insurance. Insurers are issuing more policies, and the amounts of protection available are increasing. In 2020, according to data proprietary to the team I lead, the global insurance community saw the first cyber insurance program to exceed $1 billion — and the second. However, the moment...

Besides its people and the quality of their free snacks, an organization’s intellectual property is often its most valuable asset. Whether it’s a patent or a trademark, a graphic design or proprietary market information, or just the unique way they do what they do. Companies must protect their innovations or risk significant damage to their future prospects.   Assessing the vulnerabilities of such...

Wildfires are causing more destruction in North America than at any time in recorded history.  In 2010 they consumed 3.4 million acres, but nearly tripled to devour more than 10 million acres in 2020. They also have been responsible for numerous injuries and loss of life, razing thousands of homes, displacing wildlife, destroying natural resources, and even spewing air pollution thousands of miles...

As brokerages focus on enhancing user experience, they risk shifting their customer’s focus from serious financial decisions to a game-like experience.  Some think this is a good thing. That it will help engage the next generation of traders. Others think it's a bad thing. That it will create a more spastic type of trader with unrealistic expectations on potential returns. State and federal r...

For  30 years attorney Daniel R. Karon has successfully represented plaintiffs and defendants in class-action and individual lawsuits. He's also chair of one of the leading class action conferences for lawyers, judges and law professors: the American Bar Association National Institute on Class Actions. He's passionate about educating up-and-coming lawyers. He teaches and writes extensive...

Nothing illustrates the tragic consequences of building decay more than the June 24, 2021, collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, which claimed the lives of nearly 100 residents. The event raises questions about the building inspection process not only in Florida but around the country. What caused this calamity? Who is responsible? How many other buildings are in similar con...

It's not a matter of if, but when. Of course, I'm talking about a sky speckled with commercial drones, bringing us our precious products and pharmaceuticals, or performing work in high places humans find dangerous, like inspecting bridges and buildings, monitoring crops and livestock, and keeping an eye on pipelines and oil rigs.  What must companies know about deploying a drone fleet? W...

Damage awards in litigation against physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers have been coming in bigger and bigger, with juries awarding more than $20 million in a string of cases that should send chills down the spines of defendants and counsel.  What are the factors behind this trend? Besides the severe (or even alarming)  nature of the harm alleged, what is fueling these mega verdi...

Law firms are sweet targets for hackers given the rich data they store, from intellectual property to confidential merger details to personal and health information and more.  The last decade is littered with headlines about data hacks and ransomware attacks at even the most sophisticated global law firms. Yet, according to the 2020 Legal Technology Survey Report conducted by the American Bar Asso...

Cryptocurrency assets now exceed $1.5 trillion globally. What a great innovation, as is the magic that makes these transactions possible. Of course, I’m talking about blockchain. The possibilities are endless on both counts. No central authority. No regulators. But (there’s always a but), thanks to the world’s miscreants, desperados and other baddies there is escalating potential for theft of thes...

President Biden  has called for the doubling of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. To say the process for getting such projects up and running is complex is an understatement. There will be plenty of obstacles to the administration's lofty goal. Where will these impediments to development arise? What role will states play? How will NGOs react to this ambitious ramp-up? Joining me to discu...

Artificial intelligence has the capability to truly revolutionize how litigators work, and also how companies can avoid litigation in the first place.  It can not only do the work of hundreds of people in mere seconds but can be used to predict liabilities before they become liabilities, and outcomes when disputes arise.  Joining me to discuss the incredible present-day applications of AI in law a...

It’s now been more than 18 months since the world was besieged by the novel coronavirus pandemic. In addition to the human toll, it disrupted our lives in ways big and small, new and old, as it raced across continents, first visiting North America in January 2020. There are an estimated 15,000 lawsuits relating to the outbreak, with some 350 filings directed toward the healthcare and medical commu...

Unscrupulous contractors have been ripping off the federal government for as long as there has been a federal government. President Lincoln, tired of being sold lame mules and rancid rations, signed the Federal Claims Act into law during The Civil War. In the last two decades the government, with the help of whistleblowers, has raked in more than $20 billion. Joining me to discuss this important c...

The cost of ransomware to businesses is estimated to have doubled since 2019 to $20 billion, according to Coveware. Policyholders turn to their insurance policies to recover losses which average more than $230,000 per incident. More than half (56%) of ransomware victims paid the ransom to restore access to their data last year, according to a global study of 15,000 consumers conducted by global se...

Civil unrest. Peaceful protests. Massive marches. Riots. Looting.  Which of these things are not like the other? Recent social outrage over police shootings of Black people -- these events in particular -- have sent people to the streets by hundreds of thousands. In some cases these constitutionally protected activities are followed by property damage, injury and death. Observers continue to debat...

Participation in labor unions is less than half of what it was 40 years ago. It has seen an uptick in the service sector, but a sharp decline in manufacturing. According to economist Heidi Shierholz decline in union rolls is partly responsible for today's yawning income inequality gap. Recently we've seen the formation of a modest union at Google and a movement among Amazon workers. We&a...

Leave it to people to seize on any opportunity to take advantage of good intentions. The federal government has made available many millions of dollars under the CARES Act, subsets of which are the Paycheck Protection Program and SBA lending which comes with some forgiveness provisions. Fraudsters are popping up. Some are being indicted. Others are paying fines. But this is just the start since mo...