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Mealey's Personal Injury

  • 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.

  • March 18, 2026

    Ariz. Federal Judge Says Accident Reconstruction Experts Can Testify In Bench Trial

    PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge declined to exclude dueling accident reconstruction experts in a pending bench trial because each expert meets the admissibility standards under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. and the judge can address specific concerns during the trial.

  • March 18, 2026

    Judge Sets Hearing In Lung Cancer Patient’s Suit Against Tobacco Companies

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge set an initial status conference in a case brought by a smoker with lung cancer and her husband against three tobacco companies and a local retailer for allegedly causing her addiction to cigarettes, which the tobacco companies recently removed to federal court on the grounds that the retailer was fraudulently joined.

  • March 17, 2026

    Mich. Federal Judge Limits Economics Expert Testimony In Wrongful Death Suit

    DETROIT — An economic expert retained by the estate of a man who died while incarcerated can testify as to the loss of the man’s future financial support and loss of his household services but cannot opine on the family’s entitlement to the loss of his future earning capacity, a Michigan federal judge ruled.

  • March 16, 2026

    Federal Magistrate Judge: Experts In Fall Case Don’t Meet Admissibility Standards

    PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon federal magistrate judge agreed that testimony from experts retained by a man who claims that he was injured when he fell while loading his belongings into a trailer does not meet the admissibility standards under Federal Rule of Evidence 702, Fed. R. Evid. 702, and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993).

  • March 13, 2026

    Panel Vacates Tobacco Company Win Due To Jury Instruction Error

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts Appeals Court panel on March 13 vacated due to improper jury instructions a state court jury’s defense verdict rejecting all claims against a tobacco company brought by the widower of a smoker who started smoking around age 10 and died at age 65 from lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

  • March 12, 2026

    Parties Agree To Terms For Selecting Defective Port MDL Bellwether Cases

    SAN DIEGO — Parties involved in a multidistrict litigation of cases that allege that chemotherapy ports were defective and caused a multitude of injuries agreed to which type of cases will be selected for bellwether cases, according to a joint statement filed in a California federal court.

  • March 11, 2026

    Judge Rejects Parties’ Stipulation To Dismiss Coverage Suit Over Fatal Shooting

    GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A Montana federal judge on March 10 denied a liquor liability insurer and a bar owner insured’s stipulation to dismiss with prejudice the insurer’s lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying negligence action arising from a fatal shooting at the insured’s bar, noting that to the extent the parties seek to dismiss the insured’s appeal of the judge’s grant of the insurer’s motion for summary judgment, they must seek relief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • March 11, 2026

    OpenAI Says State Action Should Take Lead In ChatGPT Murder-Suicide Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — A woman’s California unfair competition law (UCL) action alleging that interactions with ChatGPT led to a murder-suicide threatens to waste court resources and produce piecemeal litigation duplicative of a recently consolidated state court action, OpenAI entities say in a March 10 motion urging the federal court to dismiss the case or stay it while the state court suit proceeds.

  • March 11, 2026

    Bellwether Plaintiffs Tell 9th Circuit Damages In Jet Fuel Case Constitute ‘Error’

    SAN FRANCISCO — Four adults representing seven minor bellwether plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the U.S. government over groundwater contamination from a jet fuel spill at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base filed their opening brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging a $598,633.15 damages judgment won by all 17 bellwether plaintiffs in the litigation.  The appellants say that they seek “correction of clear doctrinal and analytical error” and that the appeal is not “a quarrel over dollars.”

  • March 10, 2026

    Liquor Liability Insurer, Insured Seek To Dismiss Coverage Suit Over Fatal Shooting

    GREAT FALLS, Mont. — The same day a liquor liability insurer told a Montana federal court that a bar owner insured fully satisfied a judgment including a $160,088 attorney fees award, the parties on March 9 filed a stipulation to dismiss with prejudice the insurer’s lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying negligence action arising from a fatal shooting at the insured’s bar.

  • March 10, 2026

    Split Nevada Supreme Court Affirms Fee Award After Car Crash Judgment

    LAS VEGAS — A split Nevada Supreme Court affirmed the award of fees by a lower court after a jury awarded damages in a case arising from a head-on car crash, finding that though a pretrial offer listed nonparties as defendants, it was clear that the pretrial offer was for the defendant/appellant.

  • March 09, 2026

    Pa. Federal Judge Finds Economic Expert Testimony Allowed In Slip-And-Fall Case

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge ruled that experts retained by a woman who fell in a resort’s parking lot can testify about her projected future economic losses, rejecting efforts by the resort to find their testimony inadmissible.

  • March 09, 2026

    Judge Rules Expert Can Opine On Whether Brothers Felt Pain In Workplace Accident

    WILMINGTON, Del. — An equipment rental company has reached a confidential settlement with the parents of two brothers who were killed when an aerial lift used to repair cell phone towers tipped over; the agreement came a week after a judge in a Delaware state court denied motions for summary judgment filed by the other defendants and ruled that an expert on conscious pain and suffering could testify.

  • March 06, 2026

    In Mixed Ruling, Idaho High Court Reverses Summary Judgment, Sanctions

    BOISE, Idaho — Resolving an appeal of numerous decisions that favored a manufacturer sued in connection with a fatal farming accident, the Idaho Supreme Court reversed and remanded a three-sentence oral summary judgment ruling, reversed a grant of sanctions for alleged scheduling misrepresentations, affirmed the decision to strike “untimely opposition to summary judgment” and affirmed the award of attorney fees and costs for a motion to compel responses to discovery requests.

  • March 06, 2026

    Review Of Officials’ Qualified Immunity In COVID Nursing Home Directive Sought

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Survivors 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 petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for review of a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruling affirming the judgment of a New York federal court that found that New York state officials had qualified immunity from claims stemming from the deaths.

  • March 05, 2026

    Father Claims Gemini Encouraged Son’s Delusion, Suicide

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — Google LLC’s Gemini artificial intelligence chatbot sent a man on a mission designed to inflict mass casualties and only after it failed switched tactics and told a man that his suicide wouldn’t be a death but a rebirth into a world where he could be with his AI companion, the man’s father alleges in a March 4 survival and wrongful death complaint filed in California federal court, also alleging violation of the state’s unfair competition law.

  • March 05, 2026

    Amid Criticism, Judge Gives Initial Approval To $7.25B Roundup Cancer Settlement

    ST. LOUIS — Amid concerns raised by some putative class members, a state court judge in Missouri on March 4 granted preliminary approval to a $7.25 billion nationwide Roundup settlement between the putative class and Bayer Corp., Monsanto Co.’s parent company, which would resolve claims alleging that the herbicide causes cancer.

  • March 04, 2026

    High Court Hears Arguments On Suits Against Freight Brokers For Negligent Hiring

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 4 heard arguments on whether a common-law action for 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 the services 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.

  • March 03, 2026

    Premises Endorsement Limits Liability To Injuries That Occurred At Insured’s Tavern

    SCRANTON, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania held that an insurance policy’s Premises Endorsement limits liability to bodily injuries that occurred at a tavern insured’s physical address and does not insure bodily injuries that occurred approximately one mile away from the insured’s premises, granting the insurer’s motion for summary judgment in its declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying action arising from the death of a 4-year-old that occurred while she was driving with her mother who was allegedly overserved at the tavern.

  • February 27, 2026

    Judge: Insurer Was Entitled To Rescind Commercial Policy In Dispute With Insured

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on Feb. 26 granted summary judgment for an insurer in a suit seeking rescission of a commercial policy issued to its insured hotel owner, finding that the insurer showed that it was “entitled to rescind the policy” because the facts show that the insured made a misrepresentation in the policy application.

  • February 27, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Consolidated Coverage Suit Arising From Super Bowl Parade Shooting

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge in Missouri dismissed a commercial general liability insurer’s consolidated lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to provide coverage for underlying state court actions brought by individuals who incurred shooting-related injuries at the 2024 Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory parade, holding that the matter is better settled in state court.

  • February 26, 2026

    $1.2M Judgment Entered In Favor Of Smoker’s Widow For Cancer Death

    NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — A Florida state court judge entered judgment in the amount of $1,225,000 with interest accruing, reflecting a jury verdict of $500,000 in compensatory damages and $725,000 in punitive damages against a tobacco company for causing the nicotine addiction and death from lung cancer of a Camel-cigarette smoker.

  • February 25, 2026

    9th Circuit Reverses $8M Asbestos Verdict, Says BNSF Protected As ‘Common Carrier’

    PORTLAND, Ore. — The railroad company that hauled asbestos-tainted vermiculite from the world’s largest vermiculite mine in Libby, Mont., to destinations around the country under federal law is protected from strict liability claims by the “common carrier” exception to such liability, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 24 in reversing an $8 million combined judgment for the estates of two mesothelioma victims and directing the trial court to enter judgment for the railroad company on remand.