Newsroom

Locks Law Attorneys Andrew DuPont and Jenna Kristal Egner Prove that U.S. Steel’s Benzene Caused Client’s Leukemia

On February 24, 2016 a Philadelphia jury found U.S. Steel liable for strict liability, recklessness and fraudulent concealment of the health hazards of benzene that caused a worker’s Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in a case (DeSorbo vs. U.S. Steel)  tried by Andrew DuPont and Jenna Kristal Egner.

According to DuPont, the case was made particularly challenging by Connecticut law which applies a 10-year statute of repose for products liability and requires proof of actual knowledge and intentional misrepresentation or fraudulent concealment to avoid application of the limitations period.

As the Oscar’s approach, Senior Partner Marc Weingarten discusses America’s long fascination with courtroom drama, trials and lawyers as viewed through the Hollywood lens.  Whether it’s Miracle on 34th Street, My Cousin Vinny or A Time to Kill, they have all shown facets of the legal profession that are both entertaining and instructional.  Read the full article here.

On February 11, 2016, the Honorable Judge Andrew J. Guilford of the Federal District Court for the Central District of California signed an order appointing Locks Law Firm to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the Experian Data Breach Litigation.   The Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee will be in charge of prosecuting the more than 30 class actions filed against Experian because of its conduct with regard to the exposure and subsequent theft of the personal information of approximately 15 million T-Mobile customers.

On February 8, 2016, the Honorable Judge Jeffrey S. White of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California signed an order appointing Locks Law Firm to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the YapStone Data Breach Litigation. YapStone is a web and mobile platform-based payment processor which processes payments for companies such as Vacation Rental By Owner (www.vrbo.com) and Home Away (www.homeaway.com).

The Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee will be in charge of prosecuting claims on behalf of all individuals and entities whose personal identifying information and bank account information were accessible through an unsecured URL owned by YapStone.

As Part of Philadelphia Bar Association’s Advancing Civics Education Program

Attorneys from Locks Law Firm recently offered a presentation on the Magna Carta to students at the Girard Academic Music Program in South Philadelphia as part of the Advancing Civics Education (ACE) program sponsored by the Philadelphia Bar Association and the School District of Philadelphia. The program was developed to provide students with supplemental civics education in areas such as fundamental principles of citizenship, democracy and dispute resolution. Shown are (from left), Locks Law attorneys Mark Weinstein and Melanie Garner; Brendon Jobs, a history teacher at GAMP and whose class hosted the forum; and Locks Law Partner Marc Weingarten. Locks Law has been participating in the program for the past seven years.

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.