Mealey's Personal Injury
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March 14, 2023
Oregon Jury Awards $18.5M In Asbestos Case Against Talc Supplier
PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon jury awarded $18.5 million on negligence and product liability claims stemming from a woman’s death from mesothelioma after exposure to Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) talc.
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March 10, 2023
Order Issued After Elder Files Putative Class Fraud Suit Against 55-Plus Community
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on March 9 issued a standing order outlining filing requirements three days after a senior resident of a retirement community filed a putative class action, asserting that the community defrauded seniors and people with disabilities by falsely representing that residents will be provided with needed care services without disclosing that staffing policies are insufficient to meet the residents’ needs.
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March 10, 2023
Hearing Held After $12.5M Wrongful Death Verdict In Suit Against Florida Care Home
TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida judge held a post-judgment hearing after a jury awarded $12.5 million in a wrongful death suit filed against a nursing home and its owners by the daughter of a former resident, alleging that the defendants failed to prevent and treat a pressure ulcer the woman sustained, which led to her death.
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March 10, 2023
Alabama Federal Jury Renders Defense Verdict In Birth Injury Malpractice Case
Child with brachial plexus injury takes nothing in final judgment
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March 09, 2023
Despite Expert Testimony, Walmart Granted Summary Judgment In Falling Soda Suit
TAMPA, Fla. — Although permitting a mechanical engineer’s testimony about Walmart’s failure to warn customers about the fall hazards of its gravity-feed shelving units, a federal judge in Florida awarded the retailer summary judgment in a negligence suit against it, finding that the company had no actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition, which caused bottles of soda to fall on a customer.
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March 08, 2023
Texas Jury Awards $28.5M To 5 Workers Injured In 2019 Oil Plant Explosion
HOUSTON — A Texas jury has awarded a total of $28,591,000 to five employees injured in a 2019 explosion and fire at Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Baytown Olefins Plant. A sixth plaintiff was awarded a take-nothing judgment.
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March 08, 2023
Massachusetts High Court Questions Timeliness Of Smokers’ Wrongful Death Suits
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court during consolidated oral arguments questioned attorneys as to whether the estates of two deceased smokers were barred from bringing wrongful death actions against tobacco companies after trial courts dismissed the lawsuits as time-barred based on the date of diagnosis of tobacco-related illnesses for the smokers’ injuries, rather than the date of death.
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March 07, 2023
South Carolina Jury Awards $29.1M In Asbestos-Talc Case
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Plaintiffs awarded $29,139,691 in an asbestos-talc case against Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc.(WCD) have asked the court to appoint a receiver for the company, saying that if it isn’t there already, the company faces “imminent danger” of future insolvency.
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March 07, 2023
Tobacco Company Argues In Favor Of Juror Interviews After Smoker Wins $6.5M
BOSTON — A tobacco company on March 6 filed a brief in a Massachusetts court denying that it will “harass” jurors by calling them to ask questions about a recent trial at which they awarded $5 million to a smoker with laryngeal cancer who also received $1.5 million in prejudgment interest and urging the court to deny the smoker’s emergency motion to prohibit it from contacting jurors. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
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March 07, 2023
Force Expert In, Alternative Design Expert Out In Truck Liftgate Injury Case
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A biomechanical engineer can testify about the force required to operate the liftgate of a truck, but an engineer’s proposed testimony about alternative designs must be excluded because it fails to satisfy the reliability standards of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Federal Rule of Evidence 702, a federal judge in Pennsylvania held in denying in part and granting in part the liftgate designer’s motion in limine.
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March 07, 2023
Pennsylvania Jury Returns Defense Verdict In Take-Home Exposure Case
PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania jury returned a defense verdict in a take-home exposure case against asbestos fiber supplier Union Carbide Corp., finding that the company’s Calidria was not defective.
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March 06, 2023
Ford Seeks To Compel Production Of Settlements After $275,000 Asbestos Award
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A federal court in North Carolina should compel production of amounts a woman received from pretrial settlements, which are both discoverable and may well exceed the jury’s $275,000 asbestos verdict, Ford Motor Co. says.
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March 06, 2023
Texas Supreme Court To Hear Battery Maker’s Challenge In Exploding Vape Case
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court granted two petitions for review, one filed by a Korean battery-maker and one by its U.S. subsidiary, which are seeking to challenge a Texas appellate panel’s rulings affirming a trial court’s finding of personal jurisdiction over them in a personal injury lawsuit brought by a man who claims that they manufactured the battery that exploded in his portable e-cigarette vape device, causing him severe burns.
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March 02, 2023
Denial Of Care Home’s Motion To Compel Arbitration Affirmed Absent Capacity To Contract
VENTURA, Calif. — A California appellate court affirmed a trial court’s order denying a nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration after a former resident died and his heirs sued the nursing home for wrongful death and elder abuse, finding that due to an absence of evidence supporting cognitive improvement following his stroke, the man lacked the capacity to enter into the agreement and consent to waive his right to a jury trial.
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March 01, 2023
Journalists Denied Class Certification In Police Treatment Suit
MINNEAPOLIS — A motion for class certification filed by journalists, other members of the press and Communications Workers of America (CWA) in a lawsuit alleging mistreatment by law enforcement while the plaintiffs were covering protests in 2020 following the death of George Floyd was denied by a federal judge in Minnesota who found that commonality and typicality were not shown.
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March 01, 2023
Injured Railroad Worker’s Experts Allowed To Offer Testimony In FELA Case
OMAHA, Neb. — A federal judge in Nebraska largely denied a railroad company’s motions to exclude the testimony of four experts in an injured railroad worker’s Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) suit under Federal Rule of Evidence 702, excluding only a railroad safety consultant’s testimony related to whether the locomotive in question was underpowered on the date of the accident.
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February 24, 2023
On Remand, Review Commission Upholds OSHA Citation For Walmart Safety Violations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission upheld a $10,000 citation by U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration after it was found that the injury to a Walmart Inc. warehouse employee was caused by the employer’s failure to follow federal workplace safety standards, the DOL announced Feb. 24.
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February 24, 2023
Wisconsin Supreme Court Denies Review Of $32M Jury Award For Car Seat Malfunction
MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court denied a petition for review of an automobile manufacturer challenging the ruling of a state appellate panel affirming a $38.1 million verdict — $32 million of which was apportioned against the manufacturer — by a jury that determined that the collapse of the driver’s seatback in his Hyundai Elantra during a rear-end collision caused his spinal injuries and paralysis.
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February 24, 2023
Georgia Federal Judge Limits Expert’s Testimony In Premise Liability Injury Case
ATLANTA — A Georgia federal judge partly granted a motion to exclude an expert retained by a woman who fell inside a CVS store while working, finding that certain of his opinions constitute improper legal conclusions and others are based on unreliable information.
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February 24, 2023
1 Expert In, 1 Expert Out In Suit Alleging Exploding Phone Battery Started Fire
PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal judge agreed to exclude one expert witness retained by a man who claims that a faulty cell phone battery caused a house fire but granted Apple Inc.’s motion to exclude the expert opining on the causation of his injuries.
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February 21, 2023
Judgment Entered After Calif. Jury Finds For Orthopedic Surgeon In Negligence Suit
Other medical professionals settled with plaintiff before trial
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February 21, 2023
Plaintiff Injured In Car Crash Awarded $536,250 Judgment After Verdict
Jury awards $189,500 in economic damages and $346,750 in noneconomic damages
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February 21, 2023
New York Jury Returns Defense Verdict In Asbestos Fiber Supplier Case
BUFFALO, N.Y. — An Erie County jury returned a defense verdict for plastics company’s fiber supplier, sources told Mealey Publications.
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February 17, 2023
Family Of Fatally Injured Off-Shore Worker Awarded $24.3M Judgment After Trial
LAKE CHARLES, La. — A federal judge in Louisiana issued a $24,382,978.40 final judgment in favor of the wife and child of an off-shore worker who was fatally injured on the job after a jury found that the owner and operator of an off-shore oil platform and a company it hired to remove firewater pipes were negligent or at fault for causing the worker’s death.
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February 16, 2023
Freed From Stay, 24-Year-Old With Meso Seeks Trial Against J&J
LOS ANGELES — Now that a judge lifted the stay imposed by the LTL Management bankruptcy, an asbestos-talc case may be fully prosecuted at trial within the next 60 days, a 24-year-old man suffering from mesothelioma tells a California judge in a case management statement.