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

Mealey's Personal Injury

December 12, 2024
Survivors Of Boy Who Died In Fall From Amusement Park Ride Win $310 Million Verdict

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida jury awarded each of the parents of a 14-year-old boy who fell to his death from an amusement park ride $155 million for past and future pain and suffering as well as for medical and funeral expenses against the Austrian manufacturer of the ride after a one-day trial solely on the issue of damages.
December 12, 2024
Texas Sues PFAS Makers For Profiting ‘Immensely’ Through Deceptive Trade Practices

CLEBURNE, Texas — Texas sued 3M Co. and other makers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in state court on Dec. 11, arguing that they manufactured and marketed consumer products that contain PFAS and “profited immensely” while they knew that the products posed risks to human health and the environment.
December 12, 2024
Judge: Expert Can Opine On Lost Wages, Household Services In Accident Case

HAMMOND, Ind. — An expert retained by a man who was injured in a car accident can testify on alleged economic losses but may not opine on causation, an Indiana federal judge ruled in denying a motion to exclude filed by a trucking company and its employee.
December 11, 2024
Medical Expert May Testify On Surgical Needs But Portions Of Testimony Excluded

DENVER — A Colorado federal judge agreed to limit the testimony of an expert retained by a man who alleges that he was injured in a car crash after his insurer argued that portions of the expert’s proposed testimony is outside the scope of a court’s order reopening discovery and allowing for a supplemental expert report.
December 10, 2024
Massachusetts Jury Awards $10.6M To Family Of Smoker Who Died From Cancer At 59

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts state court jury awarded $10.6 million against a tobacco company, including $2.5 million in punitive damages in favor of the surviving family members of a woman who got hooked on cigarettes after being handed a free sample at age 12 and continued to smoke until her death from lung cancer in 2018 at age 59.
December 10, 2024
French Cosmetics Maker Says Hair Relaxer Case Fails For Lack Of Jurisdiction

CHICAGO — French cosmetics manufacturer L’Oreal SA has filed a brief supporting a motion to dismiss in Illinois federal court, arguing that a toxic chemical injury lawsuit against it connected to hair relaxer products should be rejected because the company “does not belong in this case” and U.S. courts lack jurisdiction over the company.
December 06, 2024
Jury Hands Medical Device Company A Win In Ethylene Oxide Wrongful Death Case

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania state court jury on Dec. 6 handed down a verdict in favor of a medical device company in a lawsuit brought by a widow who contended that the company’s use of ethylene oxide (EtO) at a facility where it sterilizes medical instruments caused her husband’s wrongful death.
December 06, 2024
Residents Say 3M Is Liable For ‘Wanton’ Conduct That Tainted Water With PFAS

MADISON, Wis. — Residents have filed a putative class action against 3M Co. in Wisconsin federal court seeking punitive damages for groundwater contamination they say is the result of “willful, wanton, malicious, and/or reckless conduct” in connection with 3M’s operation of a quarry and a facility where roofing shingles containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been created and disposed of for decades.
December 05, 2024
Minnesota Supreme Court Issues Warning After Brief Contains AI-Created Fake Cites

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Supreme Court denied leave to file an amended petition for review to correct fake citations created by artificial intelligence ChatGPT, saying the attorney failed to file an accompanying motion. The court went on to decline review of a ruling affirming dismissal of a personal injury action.
December 03, 2024
Estate Of Decades-Long Daily Smoker Wins Nothing For Lung Cancer Death

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida state court jury returned a defense verdict and awarded no damages to the children of a woman who died from lung cancer in her late 70s after smoking cigarettes for more than six decades, rejecting Engle claims that two tobacco companies concealed the risks of smoking and caused her death. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
December 02, 2024
Vaper Seeks Rehearing Of Claim For Exploding Battery That ‘Ruined His Hand’

SAN FRANCISCO — An e-cigarette user has petitioned the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for rehearing en banc after it affirmed the dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction of his lawsuit against a South Korean battery maker for manufacturing and distributing a battery that allegedly exploded in his e-cigarette device, saying the Circuit Court’s decision was based on flawed “new precedent” that requires en banc review.
November 26, 2024
Experts Featured In Mealey's Daubert Report

Entries are ordered in alphabetical order of the expert in each area of expert testimony. Experts appeared in the March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November 2024 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.
November 26, 2024
High Court To Review Delegated Oversight Of Telecommunications Subsidies

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has granted two petitions for a writ of certiorari and consolidated cases concerning whether Congress violated the nondelegation doctrine by authorizing the Federal Communications Commission to delegate a subsidy program to a private entity, both arising out of the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that the program violates the “private nondelegation doctrine.”
November 26, 2024
Judge Limits Experts Who Can Testify On Man’s Future Medical Needs After Crash

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge presiding over a personal injury case stemming from a car accident ruled on three motions to exclude experts retained to opine on a man’s needs for future surgeries and medical care, finding that two experts meet admissibility standards but one is excluded.
November 25, 2024
Panel Reverses Dismissal Of Insurer’s Claim Against Marine Construction Company

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a lower federal court’s dismissal of an intervening insurer’s breach of contract claim against a marine and industrial construction company in a coverage dispute arising from an underlying personal injury claim, finding that the company was obligated to procure a Protection and Indemnity insurance policy that provided coverage for personal injuries that were incurred by the crew/employees.
November 25, 2024
Judge Refuses To Exclude Norfolk Southern’s Expert In Ohio Train Derailment Case

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio has denied a motion by third-party defendant OxyVinyls LP, which sought to exclude the report of an expert for the railway company Norfolk Southern in the litigation over toxic chemical exposure from the derailment of its train in East Palestine, Ohio, ruling that the exclusion of those reports would “unfairly eliminate a critical component of Norfolk Southern’s defense.”
November 22, 2024
COMMENTARY: 2024 Key Insurance Decisions, Trends & Developments & A Look Ahead To 2025

By Scott M. Seaman, Pedro E. Hernandez and Lisa M. Roccanova
November 22, 2024
Justice: Insurer Has Duty To Defend And Reimburse Costs Of Personal Injury Suit

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York justice held that a businessowners insurer has a duty to defend plaintiffs as additional insureds against an underlying personal injury lawsuit and a duty to reimburse the plaintiff insurer for underlying defense costs.
November 21, 2024
Question Of Whether COVID-Era Restroom Door Handle Was Obvious Danger Left For Jury

TULSA, Okla. — An Oklahoma federal magistrate judge denied a department store’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by a customer who injured her arm and hand while trying to open the store’s restroom door using a “hands-free” door handle installed during the COVID-19 pandemic, ruling that whether the door handle presented an open and obvious hazard was a question for the jury, but granted the store’s motion for summary judgment as to punitive damages.
November 20, 2024
Split Panel Rules No Federal Question In Assisted Living COVID Death, Remand Proper

ATLANTA — A split panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment of a Florida federal court remanding to state court a lawsuit brought by the personal representatives of a woman who died from COVID-19 in an assisted living facility alleging that the facility failed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, finding that the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act was not a complete preemption statute, nor was any other federal question invoked that would confer jurisdiction on the federal court.
November 19, 2024
2 Companies To Pay More Than $23.52M For Silicosis Injury To Quartz Stonecutter

LOS ANGELES — A California judge has issued a judgment awarding a combined $23,522,788.70 against two makers of quartz countertops, which are among multiple defendants that were sued by a man who developed silicosis from working as a stonecutter who has already won $52 million in a general verdict against all of the defendants. In the same ruling, the judge granted judgment notwithstanding the verdict to another defendant.
November 19, 2024
Judge: 1 Expert Admitted, 1 Excluded In Medical Malpractice Suit

HONOLULU — A Hawaii federal judge ruled that because a medical malpractice case is not being heard by a jury, an expert retained by the government can testify as the judge will be able determine the reliability of the expert’s testimony at trial; the judge also ruled that exclusion of a couple’s expert is the proper sanction for disclosing the expert after a deadline.
November 19, 2024
Texas Panel Dismisses Oil Rig Injury Case For Lack Of Jurisdiction

HOUSTON — A Texas appellate panel has ruled that a trial court could not exercise general jurisdiction over the case of a man who sued an oil rig operator for personal injuries, saying the companies in question were not “essentially at home” in Texas and, therefore, the case is dismissed.
November 18, 2024
Family Drops Appeal After Nonsuit In California Asbestos Case

LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court entered an order dismissing an appeal after a family that was awarded nearly $9 million in an asbestos case asked to drop the appeal of a ruling granting nonsuit to ExxonMobil Oil Corp. on the heels of the trial.
November 04, 2024
COMMENTARY: Lady Justice May Be Blind, But Her Courts Aren’t: Gender Bias And Barriers To Representation For Female Plaintiffs

By Sophie Zavaglia