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

Mealey's Personal Injury

September 20, 2023
Health Care Provider Loses Bid To Exclude Causation Expert In Deadly Fall Case

PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge on Sept. 19 denied a motion for summary judgment after finding that a causation expert retained by the estate of an elderly woman who died after a fall while in the care of an in-home health aide can testify.
September 20, 2023
Texas Federal Judge Agrees To Limit Expert Testimony In Slip-And-Fall Case

HOUSTON — A doctor testifying on behalf of a woman who is suing after a fall in a Home Depot store can discuss his diagnosis and treatment plan but cannot opine on causation, a federal judge in Texas ruled.
September 20, 2023
Arizona Federal Judge Rules On Dueling Motions To Exclude In Design Defect Case

PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona has resolved challenges to three experts retained in a lawsuit alleging that a couple were injured when a tire on the recreational vehicle they were traveling in ruptured and the RV burst into flames.
September 20, 2023
J&J: Asbestos-Talc Verdict Tagged Wrong Party, Lacked Causation Evidence

LOS ANGELES — In post-trial briefing after an $18.8 million verdict, Johnson & Johnson told a California judge that it wasn’t the party responsible for the talcum powder in question and that there is insufficient evidence that asbestos can cause pericardial mesothelioma.
September 18, 2023
Government Urges High Court To Uphold ‘Bedrock Principle’ Of Chevron Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. secretary of Commerce, two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the government) urge the U.S. Supreme Court in a Sept. 15 brief to not overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference in a challenge to fishery regulations that were upheld by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, writing that doing so could “cause disruption” to complex federal regulatory schemes.
September 18, 2023
Ga. Federal Judge: Medical Examiner Can Testify That Taser Caused Man’s Death

VALDOSTA, Ga. — The manufacturer of a Taser device on Sept. 15 lost its bid to exclude testimony from a medical examiner who opines that the deployment of the weapon was a contributing cause of a man’s death after a federal judge ruled that the testimony was not speculative and would be helpful to a jury.
September 15, 2023
EPA: Nonprofit’s Ohio Train Derailment Case Should Be Dismissed Based On CERCLA

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its administrator have filed a reply brief in Ohio federal court arguing that it should dismiss a lawsuit brought by a nonprofit organization over the East Palestine train derailment and the subsequent toxic chemical spill because the court lacks jurisdiction on grounds that the suit interferes with a removal action under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
September 14, 2023
Hit With $38 Million Asbestos Verdict, Burnham Wants Financial Records Sealed

NEW YORK — Responding to Burnham LLC’s request for a New York justice to seal two affidavits containing propriety information introduced during the punitive damages phase that contributed to a $38 million asbestos verdict, the plaintiff says in a Sept. 11 opposition brief that in light of evidence of decades of sales of products the company knew would be hazardous, its vague arguments are not grounds to seal the evidence, sources told Mealey Publications.
September 13, 2023
Judge Says Insurer Has No Duty To Defend In Wrongful Death Suit Against Architect

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge granted an insurer’s request for declaratory judgment that it has no duty to defend or indemnify its insured architect in a wrongful death suit filed against the architect by the family of a man who died while working on a construction project, finding that the architect “made material misrepresentations on the policy application that voided the policy under the rescission doctrine.”
September 13, 2023
Judge Rules On 4 Motions To Exclude, Denies Summary Judgment In Injury Case

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge ruled that certain motions filed by Home Depot in a slip-and-fall case were attempts “to cloak an untimely discovery motion in the guise of a motion to exclude,” finding that experts retained by the man injured can testify.
September 11, 2023
Man Alleges Defective Ankle-Monitoring Device Causes Skin Injuries

DENVER — A South Carolina man has filed a proposed class action in a Colorado federal court against a manufacturer of an ankle-monitoring device, alleging that the device causes rashes and skin infections.
September 11, 2023
8th Circuit Affirms Remand Of COVID Death Suit Against Care Home

ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s order that remanded to state court a wrongful death suit filed against a nursing home and related entities by the son of a man who died after purportedly contracting COVID-19 at the nursing home, finding, in part, that the district court correctly remanded the case because the son’s claims are not preempted under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act.
September 08, 2023
Illinois Jury Returns $40.75M Verdict In Asbestos Gasket Case

CHICAGO — An Illinois jury returned a $40.75 million verdict in favor of the family of a man who contracted mesothelioma and died after exposure to asbestos in John Crane Inc. products.
September 08, 2023
World Trade Center Asbestos Case Jury Awards $28.5M

NEW YORK — A New York jury awarded a lung cancer sufferer $28.5 million and apportioned various levels of liability to the last three remaining defendants in a case alleging that the former cigarette smoker suffered asbestos exposure while working at the World Trade Center.
September 08, 2023
5th Circuit Affirms Judgments For Hospital, Doctor In Suit Over Ventilator Removal

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s judgments consolidated on appeal that dismissed parents’ wrongful death suit against a hospital, medical practice and a doctor after their son died when the doctor removed him from a ventilator, finding that the parents failed to show the municipal liability required for a due process violation and that the Texas Advance Directives Act (TADA) “does not create a substantive interest” for the parents or their son.
September 05, 2023
Asbestos Talc Debtor Settles Truck Driver’s Personal Injury Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — An affiliate codebtor of talc mining company Cyprus Mines Corp. and talc supplier Imerys Talc America Inc. has settled a personal injury action brought by a truck driver in Vermont for $85,000, according to a motion for approval of the deal that the debtors filed in Delaware federal bankruptcy court.
September 01, 2023
Federal Judge Rules On Motions To Exclude 3 Experts In Workplace Injury Case

ATLANTA — An expert originally retained by plaintiffs in a workplace injury case is allowed to now testify for the defense, a Georgia federal judge ruled, also finding that one expert is excluded as unreliable but another based his conclusions on reliable information.
August 30, 2023
Minnesota Court: Expert Testimony On ‘Novel Scientific Theory’ Properly Excluded

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota appeals court affirmed dismissal of a medical malpractice suit alleging a birth injury after finding no error in a lower court’s decision to exclude expert testimony.
August 30, 2023
2nd Circuit Upholds Forum Rule Application, Sanctions In WWE CTE Class, Mass Cases

NEW YORK — A trial court’s decisions to award World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. and Vincent K. McMahon (together, WWE) sanctions and apply the forum rule to determine the amount in a class tort complaint and a mass action brought by the same attorney on behalf of allegedly injured wrestlers were upheld by a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel, which found that there was no abuse of discretion.
August 25, 2023
Judge Dismisses Wrongful Death Suit Against Care Home For Lack Of Jurisdiction

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge dismissed a consolidated case filed by an estate representative who alleged that multiple parties, including a nursing home and legal counsel, conspired to declare his mother incapacitated, take her assets and force her into a nursing home, where she purportedly received inadequate treatment that led to her death, finding that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction.
August 25, 2023
Florida Jury Returns $2.3M Verdict In Wrongful Death Suit Against Nursing Home

GAINSVILLE, Fla. — A Florida state court jury found a nursing home negligent in a wrongful death suit filed by the estate of a woman who died after living there, alleging that the nursing home’s failure to provide adequate care for the woman’s pressure ulcer contributed to her death, resulting in a $2.3 million jury verdict for loss of companionship and mental pain and suffering for the woman’s husband.
August 24, 2023
Remaining Civil Rights Claims In University COVID-19 Death Dismissed; Case Remanded

PITTSBURGH — In a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the administrator of a university student who died of COVID-19, a Pennsylvania federal judge on Aug. 23 sua sponte dismissed with prejudice civil rights claims against the employee of a company that owned and operated student housing and remanded the case to state court to address the surviving state law claims, ruling that the claims against the employee suffered from the same inadequacies as those previously dismissed against the university, university employees and various third parties.
August 23, 2023
Georgia Supreme Court: Law Enforcement Officer Subject To Full Daubert Inquiry

ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court found that “the well-established test governing the admissibility of expert testimony applies with equal force to investigating law enforcement officers,” reversing two lower courts that ruled that an officer is presumptively qualified as an expert.
August 21, 2023
6th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of Exploding Vape Suit Against Korean Battery Maker

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a Michigan federal judge’s dismissal for lack of a personal jurisdiction of a lawsuit against a foreign battery maker brought by a man who was burned by an exploding e-cigarette, finding that the plaintiff’s evidence established sufficient contacts between the battery maker and Michigan.
August 18, 2023
Illinois Wrongful Death Statute Expanded To Permit Punitive Damages

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois will immediately begin permitting punitive damages in wrongful death actions after the state’s governor signed legislation amending the state’s wrongful death act.