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

Mealey's Personal Injury

May 23, 2024
California Court Affirms Strict Liability For Nonhousehold Asbestos Exposure

SAN FRANCISCO — Nothing in California precedent precludes holding a pipe manufacturer strictly liable for nonhousehold asbestos exposure a man experienced when he visited his brother after work, a California appeals court said May 22 in a partially published opinion affirming a jury verdict.
May 22, 2024
New York Federal Judge Rejects Motions To Exclude Experts In Ski Crash Suit

ALBANY, N.Y. — A judge ruled on dueling motions to exclude experts retained in a lawsuit stemming from a woman’s injuries suffered while she was skiing, ruling that both the woman’s experts on medical injuries and snow sports and the ski resort’s biomechanical engineering expert can testify.
May 22, 2024
Experts Who Say Defectively Designed Honda Accord Led To Fatal Crash Can Testify

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A Vermont federal judge denied a motion for summary judgment filed by American Honda Co. Inc. (AMH) after finding that whether a defectively designed Honda Accord led to fatal car accident is in dispute and that the woman’s experts are admissible.
May 14, 2024
Illinois Federal Judge Won’t Revisit Her Ruling That Causation Experts Are Out

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on May 13 denied a woman’s request that the judge reconsider her ruling that causation experts in a suit against Home Depot for injuries sustained in a store are inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 because the experts were unaware of the woman’s “highly salient medical history prior to issuing their causation opinions.”
May 14, 2024
Philips Says SoClean Should Chip In For Settlement Of CPAP Injury Claims

PITTSBURGH — SoClean Inc., a manufacturer of equipment that uses ozone to clean and disinfect continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea devices and respirators, should contribute to the $1.1 billion settlement reached between Philips Respironics and the plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation involving personal injuries caused by deteriorating sound insulation in Philips’ CPAP devices, Philips argues in a third-party complaint filed in the MDL.
May 14, 2024
Judge Threatens Sanctions Related To Verbal Attacks On Flint Plaintiffs’ Counsel

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan on May 13 ruled that she will impose sanctions on an engineering firm that is a party to the $25 million class settlement in the Flint, Mich., lead-contaminated water litigation and will refer its attorney to the State Bar of California for disciplinary reasons if the firm fails to comply with an order the judge issued previously requiring the firm to answer questions about its relationship with a public relations company that has been engaged in verbal attacks against a plaintiff attorney.
May 13, 2024
High Court Declines To Review 9th Circuit COVID-Related Qualified Immunity Rulings

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 13 declined to review three panel opinions from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirming federal court decisions denying state prison officials qualified immunity for their conduct in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic after 26 inmates and a prison employee died from COVID-19 and also denied a conditional certiorari petition filed by representatives of some of the inmates and the employee.
May 13, 2024
4 Lawyers Appointed To Co-Lead Plaintiffs In Diabetes And Diet Drug MDL

PHILADELPHIA — The federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation involving diabetes and diet drugs that consumers allege caused gastrointestinal and other injuries named four lawyers to serve as co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs and designated counsel to serve on the MDL’s executive and steering committees.
May 13, 2024
Judgment Issued In $2.5M Verdict Against Florida Care Home Over Fall Risk Injuries

MIAMI — A Florida state court judge issued a final judgment the day after a jury returned a $2.5 million verdict against a nursing home accused of negligence in failing to implement a care plan for a former resident who fell and incurred facial and head injuries.
May 10, 2024
Judicial Panel Consolidates EPA Asbestos Rule Challenges In 5th Circuit

NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals various challenges to the recent Environmental Protection Agency rule largely banning chrysotile asbestos but providing up to a five-year grace period for certain industries to cease usage.
May 10, 2024
Florida Supreme Court: Spousal Damages Available In Post-Mesothelioma Marriage

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Because a wrongful death claim arises at death, a woman who married her longtime boyfriend after his mesothelioma diagnosis qualifies as a surviving spouse under state law, the Florida Supreme Court said May 9 while recognizing that the outcome could lead to recovery for damages unavailable had the man survived.
May 09, 2024
Smokers’ Children Urge Panel To Affirm $8.1M Verdict, Deny Any Jury Errors

MIAMI — The children of a dead smoker argue in a brief to a Florida appellate panel that it should affirm an $8.1 million compensatory damages judgment in their favor against a tobacco company for causing their father’s nicotine addiction, lung cancer and death, writing that a juror’s disclosure of opinions about cigarettes did not require disqualification during voir dire and that the court’s instructions on fraud-related findings from Engle were proper.
May 08, 2024
Maritime Injury Expert’s Background Doesn’t Match Testimony, Judge Rules

NEW ORLEANS — An expert retained by a man who alleges that he was injured while aboard a 225-foot offshore supply vessel cannot testify because his expertise in mechanical engineering is unrelated to the opinions he is offering in this case.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.