This past April, for the first time, the Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved a kit to test for breast cancer risk that consumers can purchase “over the counter” without having to go through their doctor first. Offered by 23andMe, which is best known for its ancestry DNA testing, the kit involves taking a saliva […]

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A Los Angeles jury delivered a $25.7 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson last week in a lawsuit brought by a 68-year-old woman and long-time user of J&J’s talcum baby powder. The jury ordered J&J and its talc suppliers to pay $21.7 million compensatory damages, and $4 million in punitive damages. J&J was assigned 67 percent […]

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Just recently, in Commonwealth v. Mangel, 2018 Pa. Super. 57, the Pennsylvania Superior Court, ruled, at least in the context of a criminal case, social media posts could not be admitted into evidence without first a demonstration of proper authentication. In other words, the party offering the social media post must show proof of authorship. […]

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For all the negative ideas coming out of Charleston during the recent legislative session, there was one small victory for mineral owners. Some of you might be aware that the West Virginia Supreme Court recently held a rehearing of one of its prior decisions, EQT v. Legget, and determined that oil and gas operators would be […]

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Pennsylvania Superior Court orders new trial in landmark products liability case: Tincher v. Omega Flex The Tinchers lived in the central unit of a two-story triplex. In 2007, a fire erupted in their home. Investigators later determined that a nearby lightning strike caused a small puncture in corrugated stainless steel tubing (“CSST”) that transported natural gas […]

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Last week a western Pennsylvania federal judge took the extraordinary step of sanctioning two lawyers from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, for trying to stop the development of a fracking wastewater injection well in Grant Township by Pennsylvania General Energy, an oil-and-gas exploration company. Under PGE’s proposal, the well, which received EPA approval in […]

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Parents with young daughters like me have most likely been dragged into Justice, a popular retail store for girls and teens selling bright colored clothing, flavor-of-the-month trinkets and stuffed animals, costume jewelry and make-up. But a recent investigation by an ABC News affiliate reveals that all that glitters at Justice is far from gold. Scientific testing […]

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Monsanto is in the news again for all the wrong reasons. Most recently, a federal judge in San Francisco unsealed Monsanto’s internal emails and emails to and from federal regulators indicating that Monsanto ghostwrote research on its controversial Roundup weed killer compounds, then passed it off as research from independent academics. These communications also show […]

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When his senior year came to an end, my oldest son, Ryan, decided he would go to WVU to fulfill his dream of becoming an anesthesiologist. However, coming from a very close knit family posed some problems for Ryan.  When he got to college, he was lost.  He didn’t know how to handle being out […]

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We have all seen the ads. You’re sitting there, watching afternoon or late-evening television when it comes across your screen. That generic, print-only with the back-ground typewriter sound, ad that says “Mesothelioma is a serious disease.  If you have been diagnosed with Mesothelioma and worked around asbestos, you may be entitled to compensation.”  “Call this […]

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