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August 2009 Newsletter |
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 | The Effect of the Supreme Court of California's recent decision in Fairbanks v. Superior Court on the California Consumer
By BEVIN ALLEN, ESQ. |
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On April 20, 2009, the California Supreme Court effectively eliminated one avenue of litigation enabling consumers to hold insurance companies accountable for unfair and deceptive practices. In Fairbanks v. Superior Court (Farmers New World Life Ins. Co.) 46 Cal.4th 56 (2009), the Supreme Court of California held that life insurance is not a "good" or a "service" subject to the provisions of California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act.
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| A New Era: Limiting The Preemption Doctrine
By DEBORAH GUTIERREZ, ESQ., NICOLE PAPINCAK |
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On February 20, 2008, the Supreme Court waged into the controversial waters of the federal preemption debate issuing a decision that effectively shields medical device manufacturers from lawsuits brought by injured patients in state court. In Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc. The wife of a man who died after a balloon catheter burst causing his death sued Medtronic, the manufacturer of the medical device for damages. The lower court dismissed the lawsuit finding that an express provision in the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, preempts state-law claims seeking damages for injuries caused by medical devices that received premarket approval from the FDA. Although the preemption clause is silent on state-tort law actions, the Supreme Court interpreted the preemption clause broadly to include such actions. Many consumer advocates feared that this decision was a prelude to the expansion of the preemption doctrine in the pharmaceutical drug arena. However, the Supreme Court allayed those fears on March 4, 2009 when it ruled against a pharmaceutical giant in Wyeth v. Levine.
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| Conditions at a Los Angeles Immigration Detention Facility Pose Serious Constitutional Concerns
By NEDA SARGORDAN, ESQ. |
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On April 2, 2009, a team of legal organizations, led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the National Immigration Law Center, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of immigration detainees against the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that several violations and departures from ICE policy are taking place at a Los Angeles immigration detention facility.
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