Product Liability Litigation And The 2025 Judicial Panel On Multidistrict Litigation: A Year In Review

The top ten largest class action settlements in securities cases in the U.S. have recouped tens of billions of dollars in damages.

On August 21, 2026, the Tenth Circuit granted the NCAA’s stay request in Wisne v. NCAA, temporarily restoring the NCAA’s age-based eligibility rules pending resolution of the appeal. Three weeks earlier, Judge Sweeney of the District of Colorado had issued a nationwide injunction that permitted athletes in the Class of 2022 to pursue a fifth year of eligibility.

This monthly newsletter examines critical developments in product liability and mass tort litigation, including FDA guidance on PFAS in medical devices, state-level AI regulation in legal practice...

A Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling harshly criticizes a federal district judge for relying on AI-generated content in legal orders, revealing fabricated facts and poor legal analysis. The decision raises critical questions about the use of generative AI in legal practice and whether lawyers who adopt such technology are compromising their ethical obligations of competence, confidentiality, and integrity.

Two federal courts have reached opposing conclusions on whether expert witnesses must disclose their AI prompts during discovery. While one court treats prompts as discoverable methodology, another protects them as mental impressions while requiring disclosure of AI-generated outputs the expert consulted.

On the morning of July 4, 2025, catastrophic flooding on the Guadalupe River took 135 lives across the Texas Hill Country. Twenty-eight of them—25 school-aged campers, two young counselors and the camp's co-executive director—were at Camp Mystic, a century-old girls' camp near Hunt.

The U.S. Supreme Court will review a constitutional challenge to an 1868 federal law banning home distilleries, creating an opportunity to resolve a circuit split between the 5th and 6th Circuit Courts of Appeals. The case centers on whether the prohibition violates the Constitution's Taxation Clause or represents a legitimate exercise of congressional power to prevent tax evasion.

A federal court rejected TikTok's attempt to use two prior nationwide class action settlements—totaling over $93 million—to dismiss new privacy claims brought by minors alleging violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The ruling hinged on whether the current plaintiffs were demonstrably members of the earlier settlement classes based solely on the pleadings, raising critical questions about the scope and enforceability of broad settlement releases in successive privacy litiga

A federal court in California denied preliminary approval of a $2.3 million data breach settlement affecting over 220,000 individuals, finding seven critical deficiencies in the proposed agreement. The decision highlights the rigorous scrutiny courts apply to class action settlements, particularly regarding claims-made distribution processes, inadequate documentation of settlement value, and unexplained disparate treatment among class members.

An ICC tribunal has ruled in favor of Galp in its dispute with Venture Global over the Calcasieu Pass LNG facility, finding that Venture Global breached its obligation to declare the facility operational in a timely manner. This decision adds to a series of contrasting outcomes in similar disputes involving other buyers, with damages yet to be determined in a hearing scheduled for 2027 or 2028.

This monthly newsletter examines critical developments in product liability and mass tort litigation, including FDA guidance on PFAS in medical devices, state-level AI regulation in legal practice...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed significant amendments to modernize interval fund operations and extend multiple share class eligibility to non-traded closed-end funds and business development companies. These changes would eliminate longstanding regulatory barriers by allowing interval funds to defer initial repurchase offers for up to two years, introducing monthly repurchase options, and replacing rigid liquidity requirements with principles-based approaches, while also removing

The SEC has proposed rescinding Rule 14a-8, which would eliminate federal oversight of shareholder proposals and shift governance entirely to state corporate law. Companies face a period of regulatory uncertainty as states develop their own frameworks, requiring immediate review of advance notice bylaws and close monitoring of legislative developments in their state of incorporation.

On 29 July 2025, the Supreme Court handed down judgment in the combined appeals in Shvidler v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (‘Shvidler') and Dalston Projects Ltd and others v Secretary of State for Transport (‘Dalston Projects').

The global CLO equity fund market is experiencing a cautious reopening after a period of tight arbitrage and challenging economics. With U.S. CLO issuance approaching $230 billion in the first half of 2026 and major platforms successfully raising billion-dollar funds, captive and third-party CLO equity fund structures are evolving rapidly as managers deploy sophisticated structuring technologies to provide stable execution capacity and attract institutional capital seeking diversified credit exposure with s

CME has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the CFTC's approval of Kalshi's bitcoin perpetual contract, raising fundamental questions about whether perpetual contracts should be regulated as futures or swaps. The case centers on allegations that the CFTC violated the Administrative Procedure Act by reversing established policy without adequate explanation, potentially reshaping the regulatory landscape for digital asset derivatives. The outcome will have significant implications for market participants, as

The CFTC has released its 2026 regulatory priorities agenda under new Chairman Michael Selig, outlining significant proposed changes to commodity pool operator exemptions, large trader reporting requirements, and foreign exchange product classifications. Asset managers participating in commodities and derivatives markets will need to understand how these regulatory modifications may affect their registration obligations, reporting burdens, and treatment of various financial instruments.

Private equity investment in concierge medicine, aesthetic dermatology and medispas has surged due to cash-pay economics, recurring revenue models and fragmented markets ripe for consolidation. However, navigating state-by-state corporate practice of medicine prohibitions, licensure requirements and evolving GLP-1 regulations requires sophisticated legal structuring to protect valuations and enable successful exits.

Preferred equity is transforming structured finance by enabling sponsors to attract third-party capital below rated debt without diluting residual positions or triggering additional rating requirements. This analysis examines how CFOs, CLOs, NAV facilities, and other securitization vehicles are deploying bespoke preferred structures to widen investor pools while preserving manager incentives. What contractual mechanics, legal considerations, and market dynamics are driving this shift from niche accommodatio

Germany's advance lump-sum taxation regime imposes annual deemed investment income on German tax-resident investors in qualifying investment funds, regardless of distributions.