Court Tosses $223.8M Verdict Against J&J in Talc Cancer CaseA New Jersey appeals court on Tuesday threw out a $223.8 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson that a jury had awarded to four plaintiffs who claimed they developed cancer from being exposed to asbestos in the company’s talc powder … ….. Read More.INSURANCE JOURNAL – General | Consumers & ShoppingTue, October 3, 202312 hours ago
He, She, They: The Pronoun Debate Will Likely Land at the Supreme CourtOnce again, a pitched battle in America’s culture wars is making its steady way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In this round, the emerging question is whether public school children have a right to choose names and pronouns affirming their gender identity, or whether parents’ right to manage the upbringing of their children overrides it. Three separate federal appeals courts have already confronted the issue, which has left school administrators across the country having to pick between the wishes and needs of students on one hand, and the demands of parents that they be alerted to their children’s gender and pronoun preferences at school on the other. The legal issues in these cases are not easy ones, pitting children’s rights against their parents’ rights. Upset parents contend that by using a child’s preferred pronouns without their knowledge, government…
California Board Wins Court Fight To Prevent Exxon From Trucking OilA judge recently upheld a 3-2 decision by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to ban Exxon Mobil from trucking oil to processing plants while a ruptured pipeline undergoes repairs. The ruling comes at a time when oil hovers around $100 per barrel and truck diesel prices at the pump stood over $4.50 per gallon nationally and more than $6 in California. Exxon sustained a pipe break in 2015, causing an environmentally disastrous spill along the Gaviota coastline. With repair plans in the works, Exxon sought a permit to restore production at three dormant wells. The Golden State oil industry reportedly supports approximately 365,000 workers and generates $150 billion in annual revenue. “We disagree with the decision, which disregards our employees, contractors and countless others working in California’s oil and gas industry who depend on these jobs to support…
Trump hit with gag order after lashing out at court clerkThe judge overseeing Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial on Tuesday imposed a gag order — promising sanctions for any violations — on the former U.S. president and others in the case after Trump took to social media to lash out at the judge’s top law clerk. ….. Read More.CBC News – General World News | World News & EventsTue, October 3, 20235 hours ago
The Supreme Court seems skeptical of a challenge to consumer agencyThe case before the high court Tuesday examined how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded. A ruling in favor of payday lenders could gut the agency.(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images) ….. Read More.NPR – Politics | Politics & GovernmentTue, October 3, 20236 hours ago
Nixon Between the LinesCall it coincidence, serendipity, an aligning of the planets—whatever the term, the moment was creepy and amusing all at once. I was beavering away in the basement research room at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, in Yorba Linda, a suburb of Los Angeles, when Henry Kissinger twice came into view—in the flat, cursive form of Nixon’s scrawl in the margins of the book I was reading, and then in the rounder corporeal form of the man himself, in the hallway outside the door.Kissinger, the last surviving member of Nixon’s Cabinet, was in Yorba Linda last fall for two reasons: to speak at a fundraising gala for the Richard Nixon Foundation and to promote a book he had published earlier in the year, at the improbable age of 99. The book, Leadership, contains an entire chapter in praise of Nixon, the man who had made Kissinger…