Product Liability

  • February 02, 2024

    Families New To Tylenol MDL Cite Expert To Avoid Dismissal

    A dozen parents and children who allege that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen caused ADHD have urged a federal judge to keep their lawsuits alive, contending that they aren't bound by an earlier ruling that barred every expert witness set to testify for plaintiffs in similar cases.

  • February 02, 2024

    Tesla Recalls 2.2M Vehicles Over Small Warning Light Font

    Tesla Inc. has agreed to recall nearly 2.2 million vehicles in the U.S. equipped with warning lights featuring an "incorrect" font size on the instrument panel, according to a notice issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

  • February 02, 2024

    Pennsylvania AG's Clout In Opioid Deal Likely Has Wide Reach

    A Pennsylvania court's ruling that the attorney general had the power to overrule local district attorneys' objections to a big opioid settlement could affect the prosecutors' power dynamic beyond the painkiller litigation, overshadowing other areas where they could share jurisdiction or clash over politically sensitive issues, attorneys told Law360.

  • February 02, 2024

    Conn. Eye Patient Drops Bausch & Lomb Implant Claims

    A Connecticut woman who said she was injured by an in-eye lens implant and her husband have agreed to drop their claims against Bausch & Lomb in federal court, according to a stipulation filed by the parties following multiple appellate decisions in the couple's favor.

  • February 02, 2024

    Mass. Justices Affirm Time Limits In Trials, For Some Cases

    Massachusetts' highest court ruled Friday that trial judges may consider flexible time limits for the presentation of evidence and arguments, but only after what it characterized as an "informed analysis" of the specifics of the case, with input from the parties.

  • February 01, 2024

    SEC Official, Atty Spouse Say Google Led Them To 'Hell Run'

    An SEC regional director and her attorney spouse sued Google for negligence in California state court Wednesday, alleging they were violently attacked by gangs of robbers en route to Cape Town International Airport while being directed by Google Maps to travel through a dangerous corridor infamously dubbed "Hell Run."

  • February 01, 2024

    Colo. Climate Case May Be Stuck In 'Catch-22,' Judge Says

    A Colorado state judge asked Exxon on Thursday whether its argument would put local governments seeking to hold it responsible for the effects of climate change in a "Catch-22," since the oil giant maintains that its emissions were too widespread to be subject to state law while federal law doesn't give the plaintiffs an opportunity to sue.

  • February 01, 2024

    Nestle Wins Exit Bid In Lime-Flavored Perrier False Ad Suit

    A Florida federal judge on Thursday tossed with prejudice a proposed class action alleging the label on Nestle USA Inc.'s Perrier drinks misleads consumers on how much lime it puts in the carbonated water beverage, saying the label does not use language suggesting the drink is made with lime.

  • February 01, 2024

    Insurer Fights Railroad Subpoena For Ohio Derailment Docs

    An insurance company that investigated claims made surrounding last year's East Palestine, Ohio, derailment has asked an Ohio federal court to block a subpoena from Norfolk Southern seeking to procure its findings from the area where the accident occurred, arguing it was a nonparty to the massive litigation over the derailment.

  • February 01, 2024

    EPA Floats New PFAS Rules For Hazardous Waste

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed two rules that would clear the way for extensive new regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

  • February 01, 2024

    Pacific Market's Trendy Stanley Cups Contain Lead, Suit Says

    Pacific Market International was hit with a proposed false advertising class action in California state court Thursday by four women who allege that its trendy, Stanley-branded drinking tumblers that have gone viral and skyrocketed in popularity thanks to its brand partnerships with social media influencers, contain lead.

  • February 01, 2024

    Water Brand Had 'No One Qualified' To Make It, Jury Hears

    The Las Vegas jury weighing liver failure claims against "alkaline water" brand Real Water heard Thursday from a food safety expert about a 2018 health audit that she said found there was "no one qualified to make safe and clean water in this facility."

  • February 01, 2024

    Harvard Professor Testifies Fluoride Is 'Definitely' Neurotoxic

    A Harvard epidemiologist testified in a high-stakes bench trial over environmental groups' efforts to get the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban fluoride in 200 million Americans' drinking water that there is "definitely a causal relationship" between fluoride exposure and neurotoxicity, even at low exposure levels.

  • February 01, 2024

    Gov. Study Shows Higher Cancer Rates On Camp Lejeune

    Military and civilian workers at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina were 20% more likely to be diagnosed with a variety of cancers compared to those on a base with uncontaminated water, according to a government study officially published a month after people suing the government urged for its release.

  • February 01, 2024

    Pharma Hikma Reaches $150M Opioid Settlement With States

    Hikma Pharmaceuticals and several attorneys general announced a $150 million agreement in principle on Thursday resolving cases brought by a group of states and localities alleging the company fueled the opioid crisis by failing to report suspicious opioid orders from potentially illegal distributors.

  • February 01, 2024

    Conn. PFAS Water Pollution Suit Escapes Multidistrict Bid

    The federal multidistrict litigation panel has denied a Connecticut utility's attempt to funnel a lawsuit arising from PFAS "forever chemicals" into a broader nationwide case, concluding that the claims against Connecticut Water Co. are too different to be lumped into the MDL.

  • February 01, 2024

    Imerys, Cyprus Mines Propose Ch. 11 Plans With $862M Trust

    Bankrupt talc supplier Imerys Talc America, Inc. and its former owner Cyprus Mines Corp. asked a Delaware bankruptcy court to sign off on disclosure statements for their separate Chapter 11 plans that would create an $862.5 million joint trust to settle claims that their talc caused cancer.

  • February 01, 2024

    Experts Urge Justices To Bar Insurer's Ch. 11 Challenge

    Truck Insurance Exchange's contention that it is a "party in interest" with standing to challenge its insureds' Chapter 11 reorganization plan, which established a trust for asbestos injury claims, would upend the bankruptcy system if accepted, experts and policyholder representatives told the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday.

  • February 01, 2024

    How Will AI Impact The Environment? Dems Want To Find Out

    As attempts to integrate artificial intelligence into products and processes speed up, Congress wants a close look at how the technology's electricity use, water needs and waste consequences are affecting the environment.

  • February 01, 2024

    10th Circ. Absolves App For Fake Car Sale That Turned Deadly

    The Tenth Circuit on Thursday affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit leveled against an online marketplace provider over the murder of a couple by a man pretending to be selling a car on its platform, finding the case didn't show how the app caused or increased risk to users.

  • February 01, 2024

    Mich. High Court To Consider Lilly Insulin Pricing Probe

    Michigan's attorney general will have a chance to argue before the state's highest court to defend her bid to appeal a lower appellate court's rejection of her investigation into drugmaker Eli Lilly's insulin pricing strategies and decision to keep precedent in place that exempts regulated industries from state consumer protection laws.

  • February 01, 2024

    Judge Maintains Most Claims In Mercedes-Benz Sunroof Suit

    A suit alleging Mercedes-Benz offered vehicles with panoramic sunroofs prone to randomly shattering under normal conditions will mostly move forward, with a Georgia federal judge ditching only the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act claim from the case, according to a Thursday opinion.

  • February 01, 2024

    Publicis Reaches $350M Opioid Settlement With All 50 States

    Publicis Health LLC settled a lawsuit on Thursday with all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories for $350 million over claims that it helped exacerbate the opioid crisis through its work with Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer behind OxyContin.

  • February 01, 2024

    $25M Flint Water Crisis Deal Heads Off Impending Trial

    Flint residents and the last remaining engineering defendant in sprawling litigation over the city's water crisis announced Thursday they had reached a $25 million deal that would avoid an upcoming trial, with the engineering firm saying more than half of Flint residents will get a payout.

  • January 31, 2024

    6th Circ. Pushes Ford Buyer On Missing Claims In RV Suit

    A Sixth Circuit panel seemed unsure Wednesday about who should be responsible for alignment issues in a recreational vehicle built from a Ford Motor Co. chassis, questioning why a purchaser of the RV wants to wait until discovery is complete to zero in on when the alignment problems occurred.

Expert Analysis

  • Perspectives

    How Attorneys Can Help Combat Anti-Asian Hate

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    Amid an exponential increase in violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, unique obstacles stand in the way of accountability and justice — but lawyers can effect powerful change by raising awareness, offering legal representation, advocating for victims’ rights and more, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • Opinion

    Congress Needs To Enact A Federal Anti-SLAPP Statute

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    Although many states have passed statutes meant to prevent individuals or entities from filing strategic lawsuits against public participation, other states have not, so it's time for Congress to enact a federal statute to ensure that free speech and petitioning rights are uniformly protected nationwide in federal court, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Dealing With Dogmatic Jurors: Voir Dire And Trial Strategies

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    Dogmatic jurors — whose rigid reliance on external authority can inhibit accurate, objective decision making — may be both good and bad for plaintiffs and defense counsel, so attorneys should understand how to identify such jurors in voir dire and how to meet them where they are during trial, say consultants at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Opinion

    Federal Restrictions On Phthalates Are Long Overdue

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    The health risks of phthalates — chemicals used to increase the durability and flexibility of plastics, and found in hundreds of household products — have been known for decades, so the lack of comprehensive federal policies restricting their use is a problem, given the compelling warnings of their hazards, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

  • USDA Salmonella Proposal Propels New Food Safety Journey

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    The U.S. Department of Agriculture's recent proposed policy to declare salmonella an adulterant in breaded stuffed raw chicken products could have major implications not only for the specialized products at issue, but also the entire poultry industry and beyond, say Bob Hibbert and Amaru Sanchez at Wiley.

  • Some Client Speculations On AI And The Law Firm Biz Model

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    Generative artificial intelligence technologies will put pressure on the business of law as it is structured currently, but clients may end up with more price certainty for legal services, and lawyers may spend more time being lawyers, says Jonathan Cole at Melody Capital.

  • Dissecting The Case Law On Automaker Arbitration Provisions

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    As automakers increasingly turn to arbitration agreements for trimming and defending putative class action lawsuits, there are five factors driving courts' disparate outcomes when resolving an automaker's motion to compel arbitration, say Ellisse Thompson and Brandon Boxler at Klein Thomas.

  • And Now A Word From The Panel: MDLs As A Last Resort

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    While the number of individual actions included in multidistrict litigation proceedings has exploded in recent years, it's important to remember that the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation views creation of an MDL as something that should happen only after consideration of all other options, says Alan Rothman at Sidley.

  • A Lawyer's Guide To Approaching Digital Assets In Discovery

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    The booming growth of cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens has made digital assets relevant in many legal disputes but also poses several challenges for discovery, so lawyers must garner an understanding of the technology behind these assets, the way they function, and how they're held, says Brett Sager at Ehrenstein Sager.

  • Opinion

    High Court's Ethics Statement Places Justices Above The Law

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    The U.S. Supreme Court justices' disappointing statement on the court's ethics principles and practices reveals that not only are they satisfied with a status quo in which they are bound by fewer ethics rules than other federal judges, but also that they've twisted the few rules that do apply to them, says David Janovsky at the Project on Government Oversight.

  • Opinion

    Time For Law Schools To Rethink Unsung Role Of Adjuncts

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    As law schools prepare for the fall 2023 semester, administrators should reevaluate the role of the underappreciated, indispensable adjunct, and consider 16 concrete actions to improve the adjuncts' teaching experience, overall happiness and feeling of belonging, say T. Markus Funk at Perkins Coie, Andrew Boutros at Dechert and Eugene Volokh at UCLA.

  • Tips For In-House Legal Leaders In A Challenging Economy

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    Amid today's economic and geopolitical uncertainty, in-house legal teams are running lean and facing increased scrutiny and unique issues, but can step up and find innovative ways to manage outcomes and capitalize on good business opportunities, says Tim Parilla at LinkSquares.

  • PFAS Coverage Litigation Strategy Lessons For Policyholders

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    While policyholders' efforts to recover insurance proceeds for PFAS-related costs are in the early stages, it appears from litigation so far that substantial coverage should be available for PFAS-related liabilities, including both defense costs and indemnity payments in connection with those liabilities, say Benedict Lenhart and Alexis Dyschkant at Covington.

  • Unique Issues To Look Out For In Generative AI Transactions

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    With the rapidly evolving legal landscape surrounding generative artificial intelligence models, both model providers and model customers are faced with navigating certain challenging issues associated with these transactions, such as training data, user prompts and generative model outputs, say Aaron Rubin and Heather Whitney at MoFo.

  • When Are Cos. Liable For Building Customers' Designs?

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    The Sixth Circuit's recent decision in Cash-Darling v. Recycling Equipment serves as a warning to manufacturers regarding the extent to which they may become involved in customers' design decisions without exposing themselves to liability, and highlights the fact-sensitive nature of such cases, says Timothy Freeman at Tanenbaum Keale.

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