View Post

These local newspapers say Facebook and Google are killing them. Now they’re fighting back.

“There is no financial stake large enough,” to make up for what’s happened to the newspaper industry in the past two decades, said Farrell, the lead lawyer in HD Media’s suit against the tech giants. Nationwide, more than 2,000 local newspapers have shuttered since 2004; half of all newsroom jobs have been eliminated. That tragic trend has only accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic, just when the information they provide is most needed.

View Post

Coronavirus stalls long-awaited day in court for historic opioid lawsuit

Courts have hesitated to move to virtual settings, in large part because the scale of the opioid litigation — thought to be the most complex in U.S. history — makes it difficult to hold a trial by video conference. The city of Huntington and Cabell County in West Virginia, concerned that delays would continue as long as the virus was rampant, pushed to move the trial to a video option but didn’t succeed.

View Post

Opioid Trial Delayed Again Due to COVID-19 Concerns

Paul Farrell Jr. is one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs. He says he feels like they could have held the trial this month safely.
“We feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football,” Farrell said. “Obviously we respect the COVID epidemic, but we should fear the opioid epidemic. There are still people suffering and dying every day in West Virginia.”