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Ken Stabler is the most recent of many professional football players to have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (C.T.E.) This morning The New York Times reported that Stabler has joined more than one-hundred former N.F.L. players to have been diagnosed with the life-altering disorder.

Yesterday the Fourth Circuit refused to enforce the arbitration agreement in a Western Sky payday loan agreement in the case Hayes v. Delbert Services Corp.  The Court’s holding is an important reminder that despite the current anti-consumer state of the law on arbitration agreements, these clauses are not invitations to companies to imagine new and exciting ways to strip consumers of their substantive rights.

The Court’s holding on both the issue of the agreements purported waiver of rights as well as severability is instructive on the kinds of challenges that can be brought against unconscionable arbitration agreements.

Alfred M. Anthony, one of New Jersey’s most prominent mass tort and class action attorneys, has joined Locks Law Firm as a partner working out of the firm’s planned North Jersey office, as well as its Cherry Hill, NJ, and New York City offices.

Anthony comes to Locks Law Firm from Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A., where he spent the last 23 years developing a practice specializing in environmental contamination, chemical exposure, benzene exposure, asbestos exposure, pharmaceutical torts and products liability litigation.

Even though the United States banned the use of lead-based paints in homes, toys and furniture in 1978, lead poisoning continues to be a serious problem. Lead is most often found in lead-based paints used in older homes of families in more urban and underdeveloped areas. Lead poisoning can affect both children and adults but is most detrimental to children under the age of 6 years old.

Lead is most often ingested by children putting lead-based toys, paint chips or their contaminated fingers in their mouths. Lead poisoning can be diagnosed with a blood test and is measured in micrograms per deciliter. No safe level of exposure has been identified, and children with levels of 5 mcg/dL or higher may be at risk.

In Los Angeles, California, the neighborhood of Porter Ranch has been enduring an environmental catastrophe of historic proportions in the form of a natural gas leak since mid-October 2015. On a normal day, the sun shines brightly over Porter Ranch, which is surrounded by the Santa Susana Mountains to the north, the Granada Hills to the north and east, and Brown’s Canyon to the south and west. Unfortunately, the bliss of the neighborhood came to an abrupt halt on October 23, 2015, when employees of the Southern California Gas Company (“SoCalGas”) noticed a leak from the ground caused by the malfunction of a well.

Leon Carelli, Chief Technology Officer at The Locks Law Firm, has been quoted in Forbes. Alongside a group of other tech experts, Carelli was asked how businesses can future-proof their IT Departments, preparing them for tomorrow's technological challenges.

Responding to this question, Carelli said, "There are few better tools than a curious mind. At Locks Law Firm, we encourage our employees to take initiative and ask questions — allowing every member of our team to better navigate a given challenge. Educational entertainment in the form of YouTube playlists and podcasts serve as the 'music' of our IT department. We then couple this edutainment with hands-on projects that put new ideas into practice."

The Superior Court of Pennsylvania has upheld a $2.3 million judgment awarded to a concrete laborer against Trans-Fleet Concrete, Inc. for injuries sustained when he was knocked off a nine-foot wall by a hose of a negligently operated concrete pump truck at the work site. Andrew DuPont, Esq. of the Locks Law Firm represented the injured worker in a November 2013 jury trial.

Trans-Fleet Concrete, Inc. delivered concrete to the work site and hired the affiliated company, 5 Star, as its agent for the pump truck services. Trans-Fleet was found liable for its own negligence as well as liable for the negligence of its agent 5 Star.

Marc P. Weingarten, a partner with the Locks Law Firm, has been named a Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America (LCA). Weingarten is a litigator in the firm’s complex personal injury litigation group.  He is on the Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice and the Pennsylvania Association for Justice and has been elected a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer in the area of product liability every year continuously since 2005. He has been certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a civil trial specialist since 1988 and was elected to the American Law Institute in 2003.  A 1973 graduate of Temple University (magna cum laude), Weingarten received his Juris Doctor degree from Villanova University School of Law in 1976.  He has served as trial counsel in over one hundred jury and non-jury trials. He has represented plaintiffs in product liability and class action claims involving asbestos, defective pharmaceutical products and devices, flammable fabrics, defective machinery, insurance industry irregularities and more. He has published over 50 articles in various journals, including a chapter in a book on Asbestos Diseases, as well as given lectures at or chaired over sixty seminars and conferences throughout the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom.

Locks Law Firm would like to wish you a joyous holiday season!
During this season of reflection and joy, we are grateful for our good fortune and our ability to be a voice for people in need. We hope that your holidays and New Year are filled with health, happiness and success.

Janet Lewis, Locks Law’s Director of Sports and Athlete Relations, has recently published an article in the November issue of the Sports Litigation Alert. “Liability on the Ski Slopes: Recent Rulings May Signal Changes” introduces a new legal ruling and discusses the impact it may have on future cases.

Read the article in full here.