Vol. 69 No. 3, July 2002

Index

• A brief history of Rule 23.
• The Advisory Committee begins re-consideration of rule.
• Overlapping class actions.
• Unfinished business.
• Minimal diversity as a possible partial solution.
• Use and misuse of expert opinions at the class certification stage: use of expert opinions should not be permitted, but if courts continue to do so, defendants must attack the expert's qualifications and present their own.
• The law of unintended consequences: HIPAA and liability insurers; at first glance, the Privacy Regulations appear to be adverse to insurers and defense counsel, but McCarran-Ferguson and exceptions may save the day.
• Basics of business interruption insurance: the ins and outs of tricky coverage: it's important to know and interpret policy language, exclusions and coverages in order to state a valid claim under this insurance.
• Excess-primary insurer obligations and the rights of the insured: one area that needs clarification is the tension between the principle of horizontal exhaustion and the doctrine of targeted tender.
• Employers' liability for asbestos diseases: House of Lords takes a turn in English law: recent House of Lords decision may indicate a return to the lower "material contribution" causation test and a general lowering of the burden of proof.
• Overcoming jury bias: trial advocates must understand it and cope with it: there are several methods that can be used to deal with the long-held beliefs and dangerous biases held by jurors.
• Annual survey of fidelity and surety law, 2001.
• $25 million class settlement thrown out.
• Ford-Firestone class certifications nixed.
• Ninth and Fifth Circuits slash punitive awards.
• Judicial estoppel bars employment-related lawsuit.
• Federal banking law doesn't pre-empt state usury claims.
• Three justices would have heard judicial salary case.
• Attorney lacks standing to challenge court's rules.
• Newspaper cannot see GM's confidential settlement figures.