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Anyone who has experienced a burn, even a minor one like a burn to the tongue from hot coffee, knows how painful it can be. Fortunately, most minor burns, despite the discomfort, heel quickly. However, a more serious burn can be a devastating injury, resulting in hospitalization, surgery, painful procedures, and leaving unsightly and sometimes permanent scarring. The pain associated with some burns can be unbearable requiring the use of painkillers for extended periods, which of course can result in its own side effects, including the risk of addiction to opioids.

Late last night (October 24, 2017) the Republican controlled Senate narrowly voted to abolish the banking rule that permitted consumers to join class action lawsuits against banks and other financial institutions to resolve disputes.  By a narrow 51-50 vote with Vice President Pence casting the tie breaking vote, the Senate joined the Republican held House in voiding the July 2017 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Rule that barred financial institutions from using mandatory arbitration clauses to deny groups of aggrieved consumers their day in court.  It is expected that President Trump will quickly sign the measure.

On October 12, 2017, Judge Marlene F. Lachman of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas ruled that consent to jurisdiction remains good law in Philadelphia County following the Supreme Court’s decisions in Daimler, BNSF, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

A major federal appellate court ruled last week that employees deserve to be paid during rest breaks that are up to twenty minutes or fewer.

Riding mower lawn tractor rollovers have been a problem ever since riding mowers have been in existence.  As early as 1970, studies began to be published indicating that they were the most frequent kind of accidents associated with these machines.  By 1980, the Consumer Product Safety Commission began keeping statistics of persons taken to emergency rooms because of rollovers of these machines. By 2003, their statistics showed that in excess of 54,000 people had been taken to emergency rooms because of riding mower rollover injuries. It is undisputed that when these machines roll over the operator can be pinned and killed.

The crisis facing our communities and neighborhoods from the over prescription and improper use of prescription opioid pain killers is well known.  Every day in newspapers across the country the stories of those who have died of overdoses of these medications are told.  If you read a newspaper, watch television or get your news from the internet you are bombarded with the daily tragedies of those who have died.

Last week, in a precedential opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected a bright-line application of what has come to be known as the “bare-metal defense” in asbestos litigation. The holding is limited to claims of negligence under maritime law. Issues regarding strict liability claims and the government contractor defense were not before the Court.

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