On October 1, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law SB 447, which amended California Code of Civil Procedure section 377.34 to permit wrongful death claimants in California to recover damages for decedents’ pain, suffering or disfigurement.
Continue Reading California’s SB 447 – Increasing the Danger in One of the Country’s Most Favorable Venues for Personal Injury Plaintiffs
California’s SB 447 – Increasing the Danger in One of the Country’s Most Favorable Venues for Personal Injury Plaintiffs
As product liability defense counsel, we of course stay up to date on significant court decisions dealing with the defense of Personal Jurisdiction. In cases where we are representing a corporation that was not sued in its home state (i.e., the state where it maintains its headquarters or where it was incorporated), we always consider filing a potential motion to dismiss on behalf of the foreign corporation at the outset of the case. In a motion to dismiss for lack of Personal Jurisdiction, the defense argues that it is not subject to the jurisdiction of the court where the action is filed, and therefore the “Forum Court” does not have the authority to render a decision or judgment that is binding on the foreign corporation, since it lacks the requisite jurisdiction. A jurisdictional motion to dismiss can be extremely powerful, and can protect a defendant from wrongfully being hauled into a court that is located outside of its home state and that does not have any connection to the issues that are in dispute in the lawsuit. Nonetheless, it also is important to carefully consider the prospects of raising this defense at the outset of the case, because the defense can be waived by a defendant, and in some instances, a defendant can consent to the Personal Jurisdiction of a foreign state.
Hardly a week goes by that I don’t receive an email or other solicitation from a third-party Litigation Funding company about whether my clients would be interested in putting together a deal. I suspect I am not alone and many other lawyers are receiving the same type of targeted email marketing from Litigation Funding companies.
Acting within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic’s unique opportunity for permanent reform, the Administrative Board of Courts in New York, through the state’s Chief Administrative Judge Larry Marks and his Order of December 29, 2020, enacted new Uniform Rules in the Supreme and County courts that will permanently change discovery, motion practice, pre-trial procedures and other aspects of civil litigation in the state. Effective February 1, 2021, some of these changes will impact personal injury litigation in general, and products liability cases in particular.
