Archive
By Vince Sullivan | Law360 (July 29, 2022) — A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Friday approved major parts of the Chapter 11 plan proposed by the Boy Scouts of America to deal with more than 80,000 claims of childhood sexual abuse, including the creation of a $2.7 billion settlement fund, but said there were some issues… Read more >
By Christina Tabacco | Law Street Media (April 27, 2022) — Individuals representing their children ad lidem in a suit against Google LLC, Youtube LLC and “channel owners” such as The Cartoon Network, DreamWorks Animation, and Hasbro Studios, have had the final word in their case alleging “the deliberate violation of the privacy rights of millions of young… Read more >
By Barbara Grzincic | Reuters (March 31, 2022) — Citizens Insurance Co of America must defend IT services firm Wynndalco Enterprises against two potential class actions that say it violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by helping the Chicago Police Department access Clearview AI’s controversial facial-recognition database, a federal judge in Chicago ruled Wednesday.… Read more >
By Stephanie Simoni | WTNH | NEW HAVEN, CT (March 31, 2022) — The possible sale of Deer Lake Scout Reservation has a local attorney saying abuse survivors are getting lost in the conversation. Nearly 1,000 men have filed claims of abuse against the Boy Scouts in the state. Boy Scouts postpone consideration of proposals… Read more >
By Kellie Mejdrich | Law360 (March 15, 2022) — A federal judge in Connecticut on Tuesday revived a proposed class action alleging Aetna Life Insurance Co. violated federal benefits laws when it denied coverage for a Yale health plan beneficiary’s physical therapy using an overly restrictive definition of medical necessity for treatment. U.S. District Judge Michael P.… Read more >
By Josh Liberatore | Law360 (March 3, 2022) — An IT company told an Illinois federal court that in deciding whether Citizens Insurance Co. of America owes it coverage for an underlying BIPA suit, the court should consider its own ruling this week finding that the insurer has to defend an auto accessory company in… Read more >
STAMFORD, CT (February 23, 2022) — The Boy Scouts of America, once one of the largest youth organizations in the country, fought for years to silence survivors and victims of crime who threatened their brand as a cherished American institution. After 100 years of documented abuse claims, a national movement of more than 80,000 survivors… Read more >
By Daniel Tay | Law360 (December 14, 2021) — A proposed class of Illinois residents told a state court that Axis Insurance Co. must cover a $20 million settlement between them and its policyholder, which the residents sued over alleged violations of the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act. Axis wrongly denied coverage because the policy’s… Read more >
By Eli Flesch | Law360 (June 14, 2021) — Illinois-based information technology company Wynndalco Enterprises is pushing back against its insurer’s attempt to avoid covering two biometric privacy class actions, saying a policy exclusion cited by the insurer doesn’t bar claims made under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. An exclusion in the Citizens Insurance Co.… Read more >
By Alison Frankel | Reuters (March 10, 2021) — If you want to know why defendants would rather litigate class actions in federal court than state court, look no further than the Senate Judiciary Committee’s 2005 report on the Class Action Fairness Act. CAFA, as you know, allows defendants to remove class actions filed in state… Read more >
By Roni Caryn Rabin | The New York Times (February 27, 2021) — Shacarey James was six weeks pregnant when she reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn., last summer to serve a sentence for a parole violation. At risk for severe illness if infected with the coronavirus, Ms. James kept her mask… Read more >
By Alison Frankel | Reuters (February 25, 2021) — The facial recognition software company Clearview AI is willing to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to prove that its alleged violation of Illinois’ biometric data privacy law inflicted a concrete injury on Illinois residents who brought a class action against the company.… Read more >
By Morgan Conley | Law360 (February 16, 2021) — The Seventh Circuit on Tuesday stood by its ruling affirming that a biometric privacy lawsuit brought by Illinois residents against facial recognition technology company Clearview AI should play out in state court. The appeals court will not revisit a unanimous opinion last month that determined Illinois residents carefully and… Read more >
By Laurann Wood | Law360 (January 14, 2021) — The Seventh Circuit held Thursday that a lower court correctly sent back to state court a biometric privacy lawsuit against facial recognition technology company Clearview AI, saying the residents who sued were free to avoid federal court by narrowing their claims. Emphasizing that “allegations matter” when… Read more >
By Jeannette Ross | The Hour & The Wilton Bulletin | WILTON, CT (December 8, 2020) — A third Wilton family has sued the town and the Board of Education, claiming former paraprofessional Eric Von Kohorn sexually assaulted their child while he was a preschool student at Miller-Driscoll School. The complaint, filed Oct. 20 in… Read more >
By Celeste Bott | Law360 (October 26, 2020) — An Illinois federal judge sent a biometric privacy lawsuit against facial recognition technology company Clearview AI back to state court Friday, saying the Prairie State residents “purposely narrowed” their claim to seek only statutory damages. While Clearview contends named plaintiffs Melissa Thornley, Deborah Benjamin-Koller and Josue… Read more >
September 9, 2020
When people learn of a childhood sex abuse scandal, their mind may reflexively think of clergymen or camp counselors. However, while the Boy Scouts of America and the Catholic Church have regularly appeared front and center in the news for the horrifying sexual abuse that ran rampant within their respective organizations, they are by far… Read more >
By Edmund H. Mahony | Hartford Courant | HARTFORD, CT (July 27, 2020) — Inmates who claimed in a suit that conditions of confinement at the federal prison in Danbury put them at risk of COVID-19 infection settled Monday after the warden agreed to an enhanced review process to evaluate prisoners for early release. The… Read more >
By Celeste Bott | Law360 (July 22, 2020) — Three Illinois residents say their biometric privacy lawsuit against facial recognition technology company Clearview AI must be remanded to Illinois state court, arguing their claims are narrower than those made in similar pending suits and don’t allege the harm required for federal standing. In a motion… Read more >
C.J. Ciaramella | Reason (May 12, 2020) — A Connecticut federal prison’s failures to grant early release to eligible inmates “amount to deliberate indifference” under the Eighth Amendment, the judge says. Late Tuesday night, a federal judge ordered a federal prison in Connecticut to speed up its process for releasing inmates at serious risk for… Read more >
STAMFORD, CT (April 28, 2020) — A class action lawsuit was filed today in federal court in Connecticut seeking to require federal officials to provide emergency measures to protect the 1,000+ women and men at the three facilities within the low security federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut (“FCI Danbury”) from COVID-19. The lawsuit responds to… Read more >
Stamford Advocate, STAMFORD, CT (March 30, 2020) — Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County (CLC) presents the live stream of “I Will Survive,” a virtual dance party on Instagram Friday, April 3, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. To attend, follow @aprillarken on Instagram and tune in to her “Live” feed by clicking on here. In… Read more >
By Joe Wojtas | The Day, HARTFORD, CT (January 7, 2020) — A General Assembly task force voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend lawmakers introduce legislation that would eliminate the current statute of limitations on the filing of lawsuits by victims of sexual assault, abuse or exploitation. The recommendations also specify the change be retroactive, meaning… Read more >
Please click here if would like more information about this class action and your rights. By Allison Grande | Law360 (October 29, 2019) — Google and several companies that host popular child-friendly channels on YouTube — including Cartoon Network and toymakers Hasbro and Mattel — have been hit with a putative class action in California… Read more >
Jonathan Bilyk | Cook County Record, CHICAGO, IL (October 16, 2019) — Apple has now joined the ranks of the tech giants hit with a class action in Illinois under the state’s biometric information privacy law, as a group of trial lawyers have taken aim at the company’s deployment of its Siri virtual assistant. On… Read more >
By Adam Lidgett | Law360 (October 9, 2019) — Aetna Life Insurance Co. is violating federal benefits law by being stingy when it comes to covering physical therapy and taking an overly narrow view of what qualifies as “medically necessary,” according to a proposed class action filed in Connecticut federal court. Connecticut resident Dennis E.… Read more >
RIch Kirby, Wilton Patch | WILTON, CT (September 27, 2019) — For a second time, a Superior Court judge in Stamford has dealt a blow to the town and the Board of Education in the suit alleging sexual molestation of a preschool child by a Wilton paraprofessional. On Sept. 25, Judge Mary Elizabeth Sommer denied… Read more >
By Raychel Lean, Law.com | CT Law Tribune, STAMFORD, CT (August 22, 2019) — Jurors had returned a defense verdict for Philip Morris USA Inc. after a two-week trial, but that result could now be in jeopardy. A federal judge in the District of Connecticut misapplied a legal doctrine that could have changed the outcome of a products liability… Read more >
By John Nickerson, Stamford Advocate, STAMFORD, CT (August 6, 2019) — A Stamford judge has denied a motion to derail a second lawsuit against the Wilton Board of Education charging it allowed a former male employee accused of sexually assaulting a little girl to continue working with kids. The man allegedly went on to take… Read more >
By Jeannette Ross, Wilton Bulletin, WILTON, CT (August 5, 2019) — A Stamford Superior Court judge has denied “in its entirety” the town of Wilton’s and Board of Education’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by a family that claims their son was molested by a former school employee. The family in the… Read more >
By Jeannette Ross, Wilton Bulletin, WILTON, CT (March 22, 2019) — Attorneys for a family suing the Wilton Board of Education and the town of Wilton have responded to a motion for summary judgment submitted by the attorney for the defendants. The family in the lawsuit John Doe PPA v. Wilton Board of Education Et Al… Read more >
By Bill Cummings, CT Post, HARTFORD, CT (January 22, 2019) — The Archdiocese of Hartford on Tuesday revealed it paid nearly $51 million to settle sex abuse claims against priests dating to 1953. The Diocese said no priests currently serving are accused of sexual misconduct as officials released a list of those who had been… Read more >
By John Nickerson, Stamford Advocate, STAMFORD, CT (December 25, 2018) — Barbara Izzarelli began smoking when she was 12 years old and claims the maker of Salem Kings cigarettes marketed to minors and manipulated nicotine levels to make them more addictive, according to her lawsuit against the tobacco company. An addiction that lasted 25 years… Read more >
By Josh Kovner, Hartford Courant, HARTFORD, CT (December 24, 2018) — In the years since a Connecticut jury awarded former Norwich smoker Barbara Izzarelli a multi-million judgement in her case against the maker of Salem cigarettes, her lawyer noted several times that she’d offered to settle the case for $400,000. Now that judgment has swelled… Read more >
By Robert Storace, Law.com | CT Law Tribune, STAMFORD CT (December 20, 2018) — This year saw some explosive jury verdicts and settlements on a variety of topics, most having to do with death, injury, malpractice or motor vehicle cases. The largest verdict in Connecticut—by far—was last week’s ruling by a federal judge in the… Read more >
By Karen Florin, The Day, NEW LONDON, CT (December 17,2018) — U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill has added $44 million in damages and interest to the nearly $8 million a jury awarded to former Norwich resident Barbara Izzarelli in her lawsuit against the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco company. The Bridgeport judge awarded $8 million in punitive damages, citing… Read more >
STAMFORD, CT (December 17, 2018) – A Federal District Court judge has added more than $44 in million in punitive damages and interest against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in the case of an injured Connecticut smoker, Barbara Izzarelli, formerly of Norwich, CT. Federal District Court Judge Stefan Underhill awarded Ms. Izzarelli $8 million in punitive… Read more >
By Robert Storace, Law.com | CT Law Tribune, STAMFORD CT (December 14, 2018) — A federal judge Thursday upped the amount of punitive damages R.J. Reynolds Tobacco must pay a woman who smoked one of its cigarette brands for more than 25 years. U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill sided with plaintiff Barbara Izzarelli, but the tobacco… Read more >
November 11, 2018
In this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, November 8, 2018, Vol. 379, No. 19, Page 1851, there is a detailed discussion of decision making for neo-natal babies in reference to hypoxic encephalopathy, degenerative neurologic diseases and even brain death. This article discusses ethical decisions in reference to when treatment is futile or should be… Read more >
By John Nickerson, Stamford Advocate, STAMFORD, CT (October 25, 2018) — Another former Boy Scout has filed a lawsuit against the organization, claiming a scoutmaster sexually assaulted him about 25 years ago. Attorney Paul Slager has filed a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America’s state organization, the Connecticut Yankee Council, on behalf of a man who… Read more >
By Robert Storace, CT Law Tribune, STAMFORD, CT (May 24, 2018) — A Stamford-based attorney with 20 years of experience representing sex abuse survivors has reached an undisclosed settlement stemming from a lawsuit which asserts sexual abuse of a 4-year-old girl by a Wilton educator. Paul Slager, a partner with Silver Golub & Teitell, told the Connecticut… Read more >
By Daniel Tepfer, CT Post, STAMFORD, CT (May 22, 2018) — The town of Wilton and the Wilton Board of Education agreed Tuesday to pay a settlement to the parents of a 4-year-old girl who had filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit claiming school officials were negligently responsible for allowing their daughter to be sexually assaulted by… Read more >
By Karen Florin, The Day (March 1, 2018) — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up cigarette-maker R.J. Reynolds‘ appeal of former Norwich resident Barbara Izzarelli’s $28 million jury award for smoking-related cancer, a development her attorney said signals that Connecticut is a favorable state to bring lawsuits against tobacco companies. Izzarelli, then of Norwich, sued the Winston-Salem, N.C., company… Read more >
STAMFORD, CT (February 27, 2018) – The United States Supreme Court has refused to review the decision by the Court of Appeals in the Second Circuit, thereby upholding the $28.1 million jury verdict against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for damages sustained by an injured Connecticut smoker, Barbara Izzarelli, formerly of Norwich, CT. As a result… Read more >
By Michelle Baran, Travel Weekly (December 18, 2017) — The recent barrage of high-profile sexual harassment allegations emerging in industries ranging from film to politics to media serves as an opportunity for travel companies, too, to reflect on where they stand on the issue and to assess whether they are doing enough, not least because of… Read more >
By Jeannette Ross, Wilton Bulletin (November 10, 2017) — Unless there is a settlement, it appears the sexual abuse lawsuit filed against the Town of Wilton and Board of Education will go to trial early next year, after Judge Charles T. Lee denied the town’s motion to dismiss “in its entirety” on Thursday, Nov. 9. The… Read more >
STAMFORD, CT (October 17, 2017) – Five partners from the Stamford trial law firm of Silver Golub & Teitell LLP were recently named to the Super Lawyers Connecticut “Top 50 List” – the most from any law firm in the state. These include Richard A. Silver, David S. Golub, Ernie Teitell, Angelo A. Ziotas and… Read more >
STAMFORD (July 12, 2017) — A federal appeals court has upheld the $28 million verdict for a Connecticut woman who claimed she was harmed by smoking. The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judgment against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for damages sustained by Barbara Izzarelli, formerly of Norwich, CT. The appeals court also… Read more >
Michael Marciano, The Connecticut Law Tribune (July 7, 2017). U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. (Credit: ALM) A Connecticut jury’s damages award of more than $28 million in a suit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has been upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit—and the sum stands to… Read more >
– Appeals Court Upholds First Jury Verdict against a Tobacco Company in New England History — STAMFORD, CT (July 7, 2017) – The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision today upholding a $28 million judgment against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for damages sustained by an injured Connecticut smoker, Barbara… Read more >
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