Mealey's Personal Injury : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Personal Injury

October 28, 2025
Judge: Stay Request In Vaccine Harm Case Covered By Blanket Deadline Extensions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Oct. 27 denied as moot a stay sought by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a lawsuit by a man seeking to force HHS to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table (VIT) so he can be compensated by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), noting that the district’s chief judge had extended all filing deadlines in the district past the end of the funding appropriations lapse.
October 27, 2025
Government Seeks Shutdown- Related Stay In Case By Man Hurt By COVID Vaccine

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government on Oct. 24 sought a stay from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in a lawsuit by a man seeking to force the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table (VIT) so he can be compensated by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), citing the ongoing government shutdown due to lack of funding appropriations.
October 27, 2025
7th Circuit Says Experts Did Not Prove Causation, Affirms Summary Judgment

CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Lands’ End Inc. and Lands’ End Outfitters Inc. (together, Lands’ End) in a suit brought by airline employees who alleged that their uniforms caused symptoms such as rashes, headaches and hair loss, finding that none of the employees’ experts proved causation and that the employees also failed to abide by the warranty's terms.
October 27, 2025
Minnesota Panel Affirms Jurisdiction Over Battery Maker For Vape Explosion

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota Court of Appeals panel affirmed a trial court’s finding of jurisdiction over a South Korean battery maker in a personal injury lawsuit brought against it by a man who says he was burned when one of its lithium-ion batteries acquired for use with an e-cigarette device exploded in his pocket, rebuffing the battery defendants’ argument that they did not intend their batteries to be used with vapes.
October 24, 2025
Part Of $48.8M Jury Award Will Be Tossed Unless Man Hit By Truck Accepts Reduction

LOS ANGELES — Finding a jury’s award of $25 million in future noneconomic damages — part of a $48.8M total award — to a man who has been in a coma since he was struck by a city garbage truck “grossly disproportionate to the evidence” and likely prompted by improper argument by counsel, a California judge granted the city’s motion for a new trial as to the issue of past and future general damages unless the man accepts a remittitur reducing future noneconomic damages to $3 million.
October 22, 2025
Amici Say Punitive Damages Reform Needed In Appeal Of $1B Tobacco Verdict

BOSTON — Several parties filed amicus curiae briefs to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in a tobacco company’s appeal regarding a state court jury’s award of $1 billion in punitive damages to the family of a smoker who died from lung cancer in 2017, later reduced to $56 million by remittitur, with some recommending reforms such as bifurcated trials to reduce the risk of “excessive” verdicts.
October 20, 2025
Judge: Experts Who Opine Apartment Complex Owners Are Liable For Death Can Testify

COLUMBUS, Ga. — Experts who support a woman’s claim that negligence by the operators of an apartment complex directly caused a fire that killed a man can testify, a federal judge in Georgia ruled, also rejecting a motion from the complex for partial summary judgment.
October 20, 2025
Man Hurt By COVID Vaccine Seeks Reconsideration Of Dismissal For Lack Of Standing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man seeking to force the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table (VIT) so he can be compensated by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) on Oct. 17 moved a District of Columbia federal court to alter or amend its order granting the government’s motion to dismiss.
October 20, 2025
Jury Awards $12.7M To Driver, Passenger Injured In Collision With Lawn Care Truck

TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington state jury awarded more than $12.7 million to a man and his son who suffered severe injuries when a truck driven by a lawn care company employee made a left turn in front of the man’s car.
October 17, 2025
Delaware Judge Tosses Suit Against Snap, Verizon, Apple Related To Assault Of Child

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware state court judge dismissed with prejudice a suit filed by a woman and her daughter against Snap Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Apple Inc. and the man convicted of sexually assaulting the daughter after communicating with her on Snapchat, asserting that the corporate defendants played “a critical role in facilitating the harm,” finding that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) provides immunity for the “third-party communications” between the man and the daughter.
October 17, 2025
Federal Judge In Okla. Says Expert Can Testify In Suit Alleging Man Died In Custody

OKLAHOMA CITY — An emergency room physician can opine on whether a jail’s staff met the medical needs of a man who died in custody but cannot offer legal conclusions, a judge held in Oklahoma federal court.
October 16, 2025
OpenAI Says Hawaii Man’s Complaints About AI Not Grounds For Injunction

HONOLULU — A man’s allegations about potential future harms Hawaii faces from artificial intelligence do not suffice for injury purposes and are at best not redressable by enjoining OpenAI Inc. from operating in the state, the company told a federal judge.
October 15, 2025
High Court Will Address Whether Freight Brokers May Be Sued For Negligent Hiring

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a person injured in a truck crash to address the question of whether a common-law action for negligent selection, including negligent hiring, of a motor carrier or driver by a freight broker is preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA), which preempts state laws related to a service of a broker with respect to the transportation of property but does not restrict the safety regulatory authority of states with respect to motor vehicles.
October 15, 2025
1 Of Several Doctors Dropped From COVID-Era Connecticut Malpractice Claim

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — In a medical malpractice lawsuit alleging that a patient’s head injury was misdiagnosed as gastroenteritis during the COVID-19 pandemic, the patient withdrew her complaint against one of the physicians who attended to her in a Connecticut hospital.
October 15, 2025
California Governor Vetoes 1 Chatbot Safety Measure As Other AI Bills Become Law

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill imposing some restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence and providing some civil penalties for noncompliance while vetoing a more restrictive chatbot measure that would have required such technology to be unable to encourage self-harm, suicidal ideation, violence, the use of illegal substances or disordered eating.
October 14, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Review Grindr User’s Claims Of ‘Wrong’ Ruling In CDA Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 14 denied a petition for certiorari filed by an individual alleging that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was “wrong” in affirming a lower court’s ruling dismissing with prejudice as barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) the man’s negligence, product liability and federal sex trafficking suit against the operators of the Grindr app, Grindr Inc. and Grindr LLC, related to injuries the man sustained while using the app.
October 13, 2025
Derailment Class Counsel: Plaintiffs’ Motions Objecting To Settlement ‘Improper’

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The class counsel in a lawsuit against railroad company Norfolk Southern Corp. related to the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, filed a response brief on Oct. 10 in Ohio federal court arguing that the court should deny motions filed by two groups of plaintiffs seeking relief from an order granting final approval to a $600 million settlement, contending that the motions are “nothing more than an improper repetition of objections already overruled by the Court.”
October 13, 2025
Couple: New Trial Motion Coming After Defense Verdict In Asbestos-Pipe Case

OAKLAND, Calif. — A couple whose asbestos-pipe case a California jury rejected earlier this year filed notice on Oct. 10 stating that they intend to move for a new trial, citing irregularities in the proceedings and errors of law that led a jury to find that a company’s product performed as a consumer would expect and that the company was not negligent.
October 13, 2025
Dead Smoker’s Estate Wins $12M After Massachusetts Jury Trial

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A jury in Massachusetts state court awarded $1 million in compensatory damages and $11 million in punitive damages, split between two tobacco companies, after rejecting the widow’s defective design claims but finding in favor of the widow on fraud-based claims relating to the tobacco companies’ material misrepresentations that her late husband relied upon before switching to filtered cigarettes, later being diagnosed with lung cancer and dying at age 55.
October 13, 2025
Hawaii Jury Awards $350K To Estate Of Dead Smoker

KONA, Hawaii — A jury in Hawaii state court on Oct. 10 awarded $350,000 in compensatory damages to the estate of a smoker who died at 68 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) after smoking for nearly 50 years, split fault between the smoker and tobacco company R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) and rejected claims that retailers were in the “chain of distribution.” VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
October 13, 2025
Finding ‘No Coverage,’ Florida Panel Affirms Judgment For Insurer In Collision Row

MIAMI — A Florida appellate court affirmed a lower court’s judgment for an insurer in a dispute over coverage for injuries its insured purportedly sustained in an auto accident, finding that there was “no coverage” because evidence in the lower court showed “that the Insured made a material misrepresentation” regarding his address on his policy application.
October 10, 2025
Los Angeles Seeks New Trial After Jury Awards $48.8M To Man Struck By City Truck

LOS ANGELES — After a trial conducted solely on the question of damages because the city of Los Angeles stipulated to its liability, the city moved for a reduction of a $48.8 million verdict or, in the alternative, a new trial after the jury found in favor of a man who has been in a coma since he was struck by a city garbage truck.
October 10, 2025
Judge: Man Injured By COVID Vaccine May Not Sue HHS To Put Shot On Injury Table

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Finding that a man claiming to have suffered a blood clotting disorder as a consequence of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine could achieve redress only via an act of Congress and, therefore, had no standing to sue the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to force it to add the vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table (VIT), a District of Columbia federal judge granted the federal government’s motion to dismiss.
October 09, 2025
Judge: Expert Can Testify On Certain Topics In Construction Site Injury Case

MONROE, La. — An expert can opine on what caused a scaffolding system to collapse at a construction site, leading to an injury, a Louisiana federal judge held, but the judge limited his testimony to topics beyond a juror’s understanding.
October 07, 2025
High Court Won’t Address Whether Uber Had Duty Of Care Toward Driver Or Customer

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied the petition for writ of certiorari of a rideshare company seeking review of a pair of Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decisions reversing federal district court rulings that the company did not owe a duty of care to two victims, one a victim of rape by someone posing as a rideshare driver and the other a victim of murder by rideshare customers.