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Mealey's Personal Injury

  • April 21, 2026

    Judge Excludes 1 Expert, Limits Testimony From 3 Others In Slip-And-Fall Case

    ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal judge ruled that an expert retained to opine on what caused a man to fall outside of a convenience store cannot testify because his conclusions that the lack of nonskid additive in the paint on the curb of the sidewalk created a dangerous situation are unreliable under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • April 21, 2026

    Miss. Supreme Court: Judge Properly Used ‘Wide Discretion’ In Excluding Expert

    JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi trial court was within its discretion when it excluded testimony from an expert in a medical malpractice suit and granted summary judgment to the doctor, a split Mississippi Supreme Court said in reversing a state appellate court ruling that said the expert’s testimony was admissible.

  • April 20, 2026

    Jury: Insurer Did Not Act In Bad Faith In Handling Negligence Claim Against Lodge

    FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Following an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority’s reversal of a federal court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an insured and remand for a jury trial after holding that a jury could reasonably find the insurer knew or should have known that liability was clear, a Florida federal jury concluded that the insurer did not handle an estate’s allegations of negligent security against the insured in bad faith.

  • April 20, 2026

    High Court Will Not Review Qualified Immunity Ruling In COVID Nursing Home Deaths

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court on April 20 declined to review a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruling affirming the judgment of a New York federal court that found that state officials had qualified immunity from claims stemming from the deaths of nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 after a state directive prevented nursing homes from denying admission to patients having or suspected of having COVID-19.

  • April 20, 2026

    Judge Denies Monsanto’s Bid For Summary Judgment In Vermont School PCB Case

    BURLINGTON, Vt. — A federal judge in Vermont has denied Monsanto Co.’s motion for summary judgment dismissing the Burlington School District’s (BSD) lawsuit alleging the company is liable for contaminating Burlington High School (BHS) with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), ruling that “Monsanto knew that PCBs were toxic and that they caused harm to humans and animals.”

  • April 17, 2026

    Wisconsin Supreme Court Affirms Brewery’s Liability But Limits Asbestos Damages

    MILWAUKEE — A reasonable jury could conclude that Pabst Brewing Co. owned and controlled the premises and work where a pipefitter contractor suffered exposure to asbestos for liability under state law, but punitive damages are capped by the amount actually recovered and not the total amount awarded by the jury, a majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court said in partially affirming a verdict.

  • April 17, 2026

    D.C. Circuit: Expert Testimony Creates Issue Of Fact; Summary Judgment Reversed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that a lower court erred in granting a company summary judgment on a negligence claim in a slip-and-fall case because “the expert testimony created a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the walkway was dangerously slippery.”

  • April 16, 2026

    Wisconsin COVID Health Care Immunity Law Does Not Violate Right To Jury Trial

    MADISON, Wis. — Holding that the Legislature was constitutionally empowered to suspend common-law causes of action, a unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed a judgment of the state Court of Appeals, which had ruled that a COVID-era statute providing immunity from liability for medical treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic unconstitutionally deprived a woman who delivered a stillborn child of the right to a jury trial on malpractice claims against a hospital and health care workers.

  • April 16, 2026

    Man Says Monsanto’s ‘Negligent’ Conduct Caused His Cancer, Damages Warranted

    BISMARCK, N.D. — A man with cancer has sued Monsanto Co. in North Dakota federal court seeking damages as a result of the company’s “negligent and wrongful conduct” related to manufacturing and selling the herbicide Roundup, which contains the active ingredient glyphosate, which he contends is “defective, dangerous to human health, unfit and unsuitable to be marketed and sold.”

  • April 16, 2026

    Colorado River Doesn’t Require Abstention In OpenAI Murder-Suicide Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal suit involving California unfair competition law (UCL), negligence and wrongful death claims against OpenAI entities after a murder-suicide will proceed after a federal judge in California concluded that a similar state court suit does not involve the type of parallel litigation required for abstention.

  • April 16, 2026

    Judge: Plaintiffs Sufficiently Plead Some Toxic Exposure Claims, Others Barred

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A federal judge in Kansas has ruled that some claims in one of the cases that constitute a consolidated putative class action related to toxic chemical exposure are barred by a 10-year statute of repose but said that other plaintiffs have sufficiently pleaded causation by alleging that the defendant leaked high levels of ethylene oxide (EtO) and other chemicals into the environment.

  • April 15, 2026

    Family Of Woman Who Died After Taking Compounded GLP-1 Drug Sues Pharmacy

    HOUSTON — The family of a woman who died after taking compounded semaglutide from a Texas-based compounding pharmacy seeks to represent a nationwide class of consumers who purchased medications or health care providers who sourced their medications from the pharmacy, which they allege “disregard[ed] regulatory requirements and patient safety,” according to a complaint filed in a Texas state court.

  • April 15, 2026

    Magistrate: Renters Insurer Has No Duty To Defend Los Angeles Cop’s Negligence Suit

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California granted a renters insurer’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in its lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its insured against an underlying negligence lawsuit brought by a Los Angeles County police officer, ruling that the pleadings demonstrate that the insured’s deliberate conduct caused the police officer harm and that whether the insured intended to cause the injury is immaterial.

  • April 10, 2026

    Judge Says Expert Can’t Opine For Woman Who Claims Injury From Broken Escalator

    CINCINNATI — An engineer retained by a woman who says she was injured on an escalator at a Dick’s Sporting Goods store “is unqualified to testify on escalator maintenance and offered unreliable methodologies to support testimony that will not assist a trier of fact,” an Ohio federal judge said in granting the company’s motion to exclude the testimony.

  • April 08, 2026

    Utah Federal Judge Denies Motions To Exclude Expert In Medical Malpractice Case

    SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah federal judge ruled that an expert retained by a woman suing her doctor and his medical group for medical malpractice during her pregnancy that she alleges resulted in brain injuries to her child may opine on standards of care but is unqualified to offer an opinion on what caused those injuries; the judge also denied a separate motion to exclude testimony from three other experts on the costs to care for the child after finding that any late disclosures of evidence regarding those costs are unprejudicial and do not warrant exclusion.

  • April 08, 2026

    Judge Grants Summary Judgment After Excluding Causation Expert In Accident Case

    DETROIT — A Michigan federal judge agreed to grant the United States summary judgment in a personal injury case stemming from a vehicle accident with a mail truck after finding that the man’s claims are impermissible under the Michigan’s No-Fault Act and that testimony from his expert is inadmissible under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • April 03, 2026

    Allstate Dismisses DoorDash From Coverage Suit Arising From Wrongful Death Claims

    SEATTLE — A commercial automobile insurer on April 2 voluntarily dismissed DoorDash Inc. from the insurer’s lawsuit asking a Washington federal court to declare that it has no duty to defend or indemnify for an underlying wrongful death action alleging that its insured fatally shot a man while he was driving his vehicle as a paid delivery driver, noting that DoorDash has stipulated that it is not a covered entity under the Allstate policy.

  • April 02, 2026

    Judge Says Government May Appeal Rulings In Flint Water FTCA Lawsuit

    DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan has granted the U.S. government permission to file an interlocutory appeal to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the lower court’s denial of the government’s motion to dismiss the Flint water crisisFederal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit pursuant to the discretionary function exception (DFE) related to sovereign immunity.  The judge also gave the government permission to appeal a separate ruling denying its bid to dismiss the case under the FTCA’s private liability requirement related to what is called the Good Samaritan doctrine, saying that immediate appellate court review is appropriate.

  • March 30, 2026

    Smoker’s Widow Amends Pleadings Against Tobacco Companies, Retailers

    BOSTON — The widow of a smoker who died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and esophageal cancer filed a first amended complaint in Massachusetts federal court against two tobacco companies and two retail companies after previously stipulating to dismissal of another tobacco company, seeking compensatory and punitive damages for wrongful death and unfair and deceptive trade practices.

  • March 26, 2026

    Jury Returns Verdict Of $6M In ‘Addiction’ Trial Against Meta, YouTube

    LOS ANGELES — A California state court jury on March 25 returned a verdict ordering Meta Platforms Inc. and YouTube LLC to pay $6 million in damages, comprising $3 million in compensatory damages and $2.1 million in punitive damages against Meta and $900,000 against YouTube, in a suit alleging that the social media platforms “breached their duty” to the plaintiff by failing to warn of “the risks associated with using the platforms” that led to “addiction.”

  • March 26, 2026

    Judge Amends Protective Order On Use Of AI Tools In Chemical Injury Suits

    KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A U.S. magistrate judge in Kansas on March 25 amended a protective order governing the use of AI tools in chemical injury litigation, stating that any party that wishes to use an AI tool in connection with discovery materials must, prior to using the tool, provide written notice of its intent to use the tool because submission of discovery materials to an open AI tool may violate U.S. data privacy laws as well as strict disclosure rules under the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

  • March 23, 2026

    Miss. Federal Judge: Eye Specialist Can Opine That Fall Inside Store Caused Injury

    GULFPORT, Miss. — An eye doctor retained as an expert for a woman who says she was injured after falling inside a Hobby Lobby store can testify on what caused an eye injury and future treatments that are needed because her testimony meets the admissibility standards under Federal Rule of Evidence 702, Fed. R. Evid. 702, and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Mississippi federal judge ruled March 20.

  • March 23, 2026

    Plaintiffs Alleging Injuries From COVID Countermeasures Appeal Dismissal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several individuals whose family members were treated during the COVID-19 pandemic with and allegedly died as a direct result of certain countermeasures such as hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin on March 20 filed a notice of appeal in a Washington federal court seeking review by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the lower court’s ruling that the family members had not plausibly alleged that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was applying an incorrect standard for eligibility for Countermeasure Injury Compensation Program (CICP) benefits.

  • March 20, 2026

    Mississippi Appeals Court Affirms Exclusion Of Crash Reconstruction Expert

    JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi appeals court found that a lower court properly awarded a driver and his employer summary judgment in a negligence case after finding that the conclusions reached by an expert retained by the estate of a woman killed in a car accident were speculative.

  • March 20, 2026

    Mo. High Court Says Without Expert Testimony, Summary Judgment Properly Granted

    ST. LOUIS — The Missouri Supreme Court found that a trial court did not err in sustaining a forklift manufacturer’s summary judgment motion because the court did not abuse its discretion in finding that an expert retained by a man who claims that he was injured by the machine was properly excluded as inadmissible, disagreeing with a divided lower appellate court that found that the expert’s exclusion was an error.