News

CCL Files Third Circuit Amicus Brief in Asbestos Litigation

September 28th, 2018

     In an amicus brief filed on behalf of the American Association for Justice, CCL argued that Honeywell and Ford Motor Company had no basis to seek reversal of a federal district court that denied them access to personal information in asbestos filings to which they were not a party.

    The case, In re ACandS, Inc., is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and involves a challenge to a court order that denied the companies access to tens of thousands of asbestos claimant filings so that they may be examined for possible fraud, even though the companies were not parties to the claims. The companies wanted to use the information, which was not part of the public record, for lobbying purposes. Yet, the only allegations of fraud the companies used to support their claim of access were generalized self-serving statements from asbestos defendants and their lawyers, rather proffer than any objective basis for the claim. Instead, the AAJ brief showed why those statements were based on a purposely skewed understanding of claims made to asbestos trusts and the nature of asbestos litigation. 

     The AAJ brief also rebutted the companies' construction of the bankruptcy statute, which provided no right to non-public information, as well as their attempt to claim a First Amendment basis for access to the information.

CCL Opposes Interlocutory Review in 9th Circuit

September 27th, 2018

     Representing the City of Oakland, California, CCL today filed a brief in opposition to a petition for interlocutory review in the Ninth Circuit, filed by Wells Fargo & Co.

     In June, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied Wells Fargo's motion to dismiss Oakland Fair Housing Act lawsuit against the bank, a motion argued by CCL's Robert S. Peck, along with co-counsel Joel Liberson. Arguing that courts could differ on the issue, Wells Fargo successfully sought certification of the issue from the District Court so that it could petition the Ninth Circuit for early appellate review. Wells Fargo filed its petition September 17.

     In its brief opposing the petition, CCL argued that the case did not qualify for the extraordinary step of an early appeal because any decision by the appeals court was not likely to be determinative of the litigation. Besides, CCL said, the issue that Wells Fargo identified, the level of proximate cause required in an FHA action, is currently pending in the Eleventh Circuit and in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in a case brought by the City of Sacramento. For that reason, CCL suggested the Ninth Circuit should allow the issue to percolate in other courts and take it up only in the normal course of litigation.

     CCL also represents Sacramento, as well as Miami, which brought the action pending in the Eleventh Circuit. 

Ninth Circuit Brief Opposes Removal

September 26th, 2018

     In Riggs v. Airbus Helicopter, Inc., a Ninth Circuit brief filed today that CCL worked on with the Robb & Robb law firm in Kansas City, Mo., argues that the U.S. District Court in Nevada correctly ordered remand of a case to state court after Airbus removed it, claiming to qualify as a federal officer. 

     The case involves the crash of an Airbus helicopter that killed a tourist passenger who was going to see the Grand Canyon. When the helicopter landed hard in an emergency, it burst into flames. The passenger later died from the burns. Airbus removed the case from Nevada state court, claiming that its designation by the Federal Aviation Administration to certify the design and airworthiness of its own aircraft rendered it a federal officer and entitled it to defend itself in federal court. The brief argues that mere certification does not entitle the aircraft manufacturer to federal-officer status, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held. 

CCL Files Opening Brief in FHA Case

September 25th, 2018

    Arguing that the trial judge misunderstood the evidence and applied the wrong legal standard, CCL filed its opening brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on behalf of the City of Miami Gardens in its fair housing case against Wells Fargo & Co. 

    The case, filed in 2014, alleges that Wells Fargo targeted minority borrowers for more expensive or riskier loans than it offered non-minority borrowers in the municipality beginning in 2004. Several cities around the country have filed similar actions against the bank. The trial court granted the bank's motion for summary judgment, ruling that the city could not demonstrate that the bank had engaged in an FHA violation within the two years preceding the complaint, finding that the two instances identified by the city's expert was not enough. 

    Yet, U.S. Supreme Court precedent holds that a single incident during that period was sufficient to meet the statute of limitations and to apply the continuing violations doctrine. The error was compounded by the court using a summary judgment motion to weigh the evidence and the credibility of the competing experts, a task that is supposed to be performed by the jury. The judge also unreasonably limited discovery to a 31-day period of time and to a scope that violated other precedents, the CCL brief argues. 

    Wells Fargo is expected to file its responsive brief within 30 days.