Product LiabilityRSS

  • May 1, 2009

    5th Circ. Clears Engineers In $300M Texaco Suit

    Texaco Exploration and Production Inc. will not be able to recover $300 million in lost production from an engineering firm whose allegedly shoddy work delayed an oil rig's construction, after an appeals court ruled that the engineers were shielded from liability as “subcontractors” under a Texaco agreement.

  • May 1, 2009

    Lyondell Must Offer Up Liability Insurance Info: Judge

    A bankruptcy judge has ordered Lyondell Chemical Co. to produce information about its insurance policies, which may allow several product liability suits against the company to move forward.

  • May 1, 2009

    CPSC Probes Ties Between Drywall, Health Issues

    The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has received more than 180 reports from residents in 13 states and the District of Columbia who suspect health problems or the corrosion of metal components in their homes are due to drywall imported from China.

  • May 29, 2009

    Insurers, Plaintiffs Bar Keep Keen Eye On Nano-Boom

    Amid a profusion of consumer products formulated or constructed through the use of nanotechnology, legal experts say product liability lawyers and insurers are waiting for the other shoe to drop — in the form of liability associated with the science of things small.

  • June 16, 2009

    Efficient Recall System Can Save Big Trouble: Experts

    In the face of rising product safety concerns, the stakes are higher than ever for companies to ensure they have the most effective procedures in place to manage potential recalls and curb their liability and damage exposure, product liability lawyers say.

  • May 1, 2009

    7th Circ. Sends Product Liability Cases To Argentina

    A federal appeals court has upheld two lower court decisions that found Argentinean plaintiffs’ product liability actions filed in the United States against Bayer Corp. and Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire LLC and others were brought in the wrong forum and should proceed in Argentina.

  • April 30, 2009

    Parts Of Tort Law Unconstitutional: Ark. High Court

    The Supreme Court of Arkansas has overturned two provisions of state tort law, finding that one limiting the liability of nonparties and another dictating what medical expenses can be presented at trial are unconstitutional.

  • April 30, 2009

    EU Bans Chemical Linked To Dermatitis Outbreaks

    A biocide in furniture and shoes that causes severe allergic reactions in some has been banned from the European Union, after an emergency decision by the European Commission.

  • May 1, 2009

    Zyprexa MDL Class Wants Court To Name Doctors

    At a hearing Friday in the Zyprexa multidistrict litigation, counsel for a class of third-party payors urged the court to divulge the names of physicians who may have overprescribed the drug at the behest of Eli Lilly & Co. representatives, while the pharmaceutical company argued the identities were immaterial to the case.

  • April 30, 2009

    Suit By Patients, Zurich Over Actimmune Tossed

    A federal judge has dismissed a suit by a putative class of patients and their insurer Zurich Insurance Co. alleging that biotechnology company InterMune Inc. fraudulently promoted its drug Actimmune as a valid remedy for a lung disease it is not approved to treat.

  • April 30, 2009

    FDA Slaps Botox, Similar Toxins With MedWatch Alert

    More than a year after initiating a safety review, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ordered its strictest safety warning to be attached to Allergan Inc.'s Botox and other similar products amid fears that the potentially deadly toxins could spread beyond the point of injection.

  • April 30, 2009

    Roche Unit Recalls Defective Insulin Pumps

    A Roche Holding AG subsidiary has recalled insulin pumps after discovering that some of the pumps’ “up” and “down” buttons did not work properly.

  • April 29, 2009

    EPA Raids Ill. Village Over Tainted Water Claims

    Agents from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency looking for evidence of environmental crimes executed federal search warrants on Wednesday at government offices in the Village of Crestwood, Ill.

  • April 29, 2009

    EPA Scientists, PR Clashed Over Libby Cleanup: Memo

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's managers and its scientists had deep, potentially dangerous disagreements over the cleanup in asbestos-contaminated Libby, Mont., according to an internal memo released by the agency.

  • April 30, 2009

    Tadalafil In Erectile Dysfunction Pills Sparks Recall

    Health food and supplement maker Nature & Health Co. has issued a recall of male enhancement product Libimax following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's discovery that the product contains tadalafil, an active ingredient used in erectile dysfunction drugs, without agency approval or a label listing the ingredient.

  • April 29, 2009

    3rd Circ. Remands Preemption Cases V. GSK, Pfizer

    A federal appellate court has sent two cases, one against Apotex Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline PLC and the other against Pfizer Inc., back to the lower courts for reconsideration in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's blockbuster preemption decision in Wyeth v. Levine.

  • April 30, 2009

    Bill Would Stop Substandard Drywall At US Border

    A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., would empower border agents to prohibit the import of substandard drywall, a product that has vexed homeowners and sparked dozens of lawsuits.

  • April 29, 2009

    Grace Prosecutors Incompetent, Not Malicious: Judge

    The judge in a criminal case alleging W.R. Grace & Co. and its executives hid asbestos dangers has upbraided the prosecution for spotty compliance with disclosure rules and incompetence, though he stopped short of dismissing the indictment because of prosecutorial misconduct.

  • April 29, 2009

    CPSC Issues Testing Protocols For Lead In Paint

    The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has unveiled new guidelines for testing the amount of lead in paint and other surface coatings.

  • April 28, 2009

    Providers Hit Merck With Suit Over Vioxx

    A Michigan health commissioner and workers' compensation provider have filed suit against Merck & Co., claiming that the pharmaceutical giant owes them damages connected to their unknowingly continuing to prescribe the now-yanked painkiller Vioxx, which has been found to double the risk of strokes and heart attacks.