Mealey's Personal Injury
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May 08, 2024
Judge Denies Remand, Says Party Improperly Joined In Fracking Injury Case
LAREDO, Texas — A federal judge in Texas has denied a man’s attempt to remand his hydraulic fracturing injury lawsuit to Texas state court and denied his request to amend his complaint and seek attorney fees, ruling that a “minor defect” in the removal of the case to federal court does not support remand and that because removal was proper, the request for attorney fees fails.
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May 07, 2024
Justice Dismisses COVID Death Suit Against Care Home, Cites Health Law Immunity
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York state court justice dismissed a negligence and wrongful death suit filed against a nursing home by the estate of a former resident who died from COVID-19, finding that the New York state Legislature intended the repeal of a liability-limiting statute for health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic to be prospective rather than retroactive.
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May 03, 2024
Discovery Sought In Abuse Suit Against Care Home Over Demeaning Snapchat Videos
LEWISBURG, Pa. — The attorney-in-fact for a resident of a personal care home moved a Pennsylvania state court to compel discovery in a negligence suit against the care home, related entities, administrators and staff, alleging that the care-dependent resident incurred abuse when staff purportedly posed the resident and took photos and videos of her that were uploaded to Snapchat “for no legitimate reason other than to demean” her.
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May 03, 2024
Personal Injury Suit Moves Forward After Judge Finds Expert Witness Admissible
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge denied a motion for summary judgment and found that an expert retained by the estate of a man who died after his lawnmower overturned and caught on fire can testify in the personal injury suit against the manufacturer of the machine.
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May 02, 2024
Panel Affirms $3M Verdict To Smoker’s Widow, Dismisses Hard Drug Use Argument
MIAMI — A Third District Florida Court of Appeal panel on May 1 affirmed a jury’s $3 million verdict in favor of a smoker’s widow in an Engle case, rejecting arguments by Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM) that the trial court improperly excluded evidence of the smoker’s use of crack and heroin.
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May 02, 2024
Skin Cancer Drugmaker Loses Bid To Toss Negligence Case In Calif. Federal Court
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a drug manufacturer’s motion to dismiss a product liability suit filed by the family of a woman who died from an adverse drug reaction to a prescription skin cancer treatment drug, finding that the claims are not preempted by federal law and that the label did not adequately warn of the dangerous effects of the drug.
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April 30, 2024
Monsanto’s $336.15M Bond Sets In Motion Appeal Of $549.9M Roundup Punitive Award
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Monsanto Co. has filed a supersedeas bond valued at $336,150,000 in Missouri state court as part of its notice of appeal of a $549.9 million punitive damages award for three plaintiffs for injuries from exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup.
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April 29, 2024
Plaintiffs Seek Approval Of $600M Settlement Of Train Derailment Lawsuit In Ohio
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The co-lead counsel for plaintiffs filed a brief in Ohio federal court on April 26 supporting a motion for preliminary approval of a $600 million settlement to resolve the class action against Norfolk Southern Railway Co. and Norfolk Southern Corp. (Norfolk Southern, collectively) pertaining to alleged injuries from the release of toxic chemicals at the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio; a third-party lawsuit among Norfolk Southern and railcar companies continues.
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April 29, 2024
Panel Partly Reverses Engle Verdict Citing Lack Of Fraud Evidence
TAMPA, Fla. — A Second District Florida Court of Appeal panel on April 26 reversed a jury’s fraud-based claim against a tobacco company and ordered a new trial on punitive damages after finding that the smoker’s estate failed to prove sufficient “reliance” evidence, thereby reducing a $15.5 million verdict to the widow and children of a smoker who died from lung cancer at age 50 by $12 million.
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April 29, 2024
9th Circuit Panel Affirms $1.73M Injury Award Against Boom Lift Manufacturer
SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment of an Oregon federal court denying a company’s motion for judgment as a matter of law after a jury awarded $1,731,308.80 to a worker who was injured while using the company’s equipment, finding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting expert testimony or err in the giving of jury instructions and that a rational jury could find that the accident occurred as described by the worker’s experts.
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April 26, 2024
Widow Sues Lockheed Martin For Husband’s Death From Toxins At Weapons Plant
ORLANDO, Fla. — A widow has sued Lockheed Martin Corp. in Florida federal court arguing that it is liable for her husband’s wrongful death from “dangerous and reckless mismanagement of extremely hazardous toxins, including but not limited to, heavy metals, persistent environmental pollutants, and volatile organic compounds” (VOCs) at a weapons manufacturing facility.
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April 25, 2024
Expert In Mail Truck Injury Case Can Testify, Federal Magistrate Judge Finds
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A federal magistrate judge in Missouri said the government’s objections to an expert retained by a man injured in a collision with a mail truck go to the expert’s credibility and not his admissibility.
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April 24, 2024
$12.25M Settlement Approved In Neighborhood Class’s Case Over Smokestack Demolition
CHICAGO — A federal magistrate judge in Illinois granted final approval of a $12.25 million settlement between the companies that caused a smokestack to be demolished at a coal power plant in a Chicago neighborhood and a class of residents in that neighborhood who alleged that they were exposed to a “plume of toxic debris and particulate matter” as a result of the demolition, causing breathing issues.
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April 24, 2024
Chicago Jury Returns $45 Million Asbestos Verdict Against J&J Entities
CHICAGO — An Illinois jury held Johnson & Johnson entity Kenvue Inc. 70% liable for a woman’s mesothelioma after finding that it and a second subsidiary could be responsible as a continuation of their parent company and awarding $45 million to her six children.
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April 24, 2024
Md. Appeals Court Finds No Error In Excluding Medical Experts In Malpractice Suit
BALTIMORE — A Maryland appeals court found no abuse of discretion in a trial court excluding two experts in a medical malpractice lawsuit after finding that their testimony changed between their depositions and their testimony during a hearing to determine their admissibility under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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April 23, 2024
Panel Remands Negligence Suit Against ‘Misclassified’ Assisted Living Facility
CINCINNATI — An Ohio appellate court reversed in part and remanded a breach of contract and negligence suit filed against an assisted living facility by a former resident, finding that the trial court “erred as a matter of law” when it “misclassified” the facility as a residential care facility and granted summary judgment to the facility on a resident’s claim for violations of a nursing home resident’s rights.
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April 23, 2024
Treating Physician Cannot Testify On Injury Causation In Crash Case, Judge Rules
DETROIT — Because a treating physician “did not independently determine the cause of” a woman’s injuries, “he is not qualified to offer an opinion on the same,” a Michigan federal judge ruled, granting a motion to exclude filed by the U.S. government in a personal injury suit.
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April 22, 2024
Panel: Arbitration Provision Is Not Enforceable As Signed By Health Care Surrogate
TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida appellate court on April 19 reversed and remanded a lower court’s order compelling arbitration in a negligence and wrongful death suit filed against a nursing home, finding that because the person signing the admission agreement on behalf of the deceased former resident signed as her health care surrogate (HCS) rather than her attorney-in-fact, the admission agreement’s arbitration provision is not enforceable.
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April 22, 2024
Supreme Court Will Address Whether ‘Ghost Gun’ Parts Are Subject To Gun Control Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 22 granted the federal government’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling invalidating a rule promulgated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that broadened the definition of “firearm” to include parts of “ghost guns,” which can be assembled into weapons but, before the rule, were considered by some manufacturers to not require serial numbers or a firearms background check before sale.
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April 22, 2024
Expert Can Offer Medical Causation Testimony, New York Federal Judge Says
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A biomechanical engineer can opine on medical causation in a crash suit because he has adequate medical training, a New York federal magistrate judge ruled, rejecting a motion to exclude filed by a man who claims that he was injured in the crash.
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April 22, 2024
11th Circuit Affirms Denial Of Cruise Worker’s Petition To Vacate Award
MIAMI — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the denial of a cruise worker’s petition to vacate an arbitral award rejecting his claims against his employer for negligence in connection with a sound speaker falling onto his foot, holding that the trial court lacked the power to vacate the award as it is not the primary jurisdiction in which the award was issued.
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April 19, 2024
Arizona Federal Judge: Expert Out In Design Defect Case Against Gun Manufacturer
PHOENIX — Testimony by an expert retained by a man who alleges that his handgun accidentally discharged due to a design defect is inadmissible, an Arizona federal judge ruled, finding that his conclusions are unreliable under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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April 18, 2024
High Court Won’t Address Whether Habeas Is Proper For COVID-Related Prison Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition for writ of certiorari of a prison inmate seeking the review of a decision of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirming a California federal court’s ruling that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the inmate’s habeas corpus petition alleging that conditions in the prison caused by COVID-19 rendered his custody to be unlawful.
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April 18, 2024
Pa. Federal Judge Limits Testimony From Expert In Broken Window Injury Case
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — An expert retained by a man who was injured while installing a window air conditioning unit may testify, but a Pennsylvania federal judge partially granted a motion to exclude and barred testimony that he ruled does not require a specific expertise.
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April 17, 2024
Engineering Firm Says It Owes Flint Bellwether III Plaintiffs No Duty Of Care
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — An engineering firm that is a defendant in the litigation over the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint, Mich., has filed a brief in Michigan federal court arguing that the court should grant the firm summary judgment on the professional negligence claims brought by a group known as the Bellwether III plaintiffs because the firm says it did not owe them a duty of care as a matter of law.