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

Mealey's Personal Injury

October 08, 2024
High Court Hears Arguments On Whether ATF May Treat ‘Ghost Gun’ Parts As Firearms

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 8 heard competing arguments as to whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) may for the purposes of regulation broaden the Gun Control Act’s (GCA) definition of “firearm” to include parts of “ghost guns,” which can be assembled into weapons after performing certain operations on them such as drilling holes or removing plastic tabs and which, before the regulation, were considered by some manufacturers to not require serial numbers or a firearms background check before sale.
October 07, 2024
Illinois Judge Rejects Challenges To $45M Asbestos-Talc Verdict

CHICAGO — An Illinois judge rejected post-trial motions challenging a $45 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson entities, finding sufficient evidence and support for plaintiffs’ expert testimony, that a pair of defense witnesses were properly limited and that the jury was properly instructed, including on the issue of successor liability.
October 07, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Review Ruling Affirming Care Home Arbitration Bid Denial

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 denied certiorari to a California skilled nursing facility and its owner/operator who sought review of a California Supreme Court decision that affirmed the denial of their efforts to compel arbitration of an elder abuse and negligence suit filed against them related to a former resident’s fall and injuries.
October 07, 2024
Debate Over Proper Bond For Appeal Of $8.8M Asbestos Verdict Continues

LOS ANGELES — A dispute over the proper appellate bond covering a nearly $9 million asbestos verdict continues after the parties were unable to come to an agreement, leading to supplemental briefing in which a defendant tells a Los Angeles court that its proffered bond is now complete while the plaintiffs argue that the company is not doing the math correctly and, having already shorted the bond, is acting with unclean hands.
October 04, 2024
Pittsburgh Jury’s $1.5M In Punitive Damages Brings Asbestos Verdict To $3.8M

PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania jury awarded a couple $3.8 million, including $1.5 million in punitive damages, for the husband’s mesothelioma and found Foster Wheeler LLC 100% liable.
October 04, 2024
$25M Flint Settlement With Engineering Firm Gets Final Approval

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan granted final approval on Oct. 3 to a $25 million settlement in the litigation for the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint, Mich., that resolves claims of residents and businesses that sued an engineering firm that was involved in making the decision to switch the local water supply to the Flint River, which precipitated the crisis.
October 04, 2024
Vape Battery Explosion Victim Urges Panel To Uphold $1.6M Verdict

WILMINGTON, N.C. — A man burned when an e-cigarette device’s battery exploded in his pocket filed an appellee brief urging the North Carolina Court of Appeals to reject arguments for reversal of a jury verdict in his favor worth more than $1.6 million, arguing that the jury heard sufficient evidence to hold a battery distributor liable for his injuries.
October 03, 2024
Putative Class Plaintiff Drops Defendant From Nicotine Pouch Youth Marketing Suit

HARTFORD, Conn. — A consumer bringing a putative class action suit accusing Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) of violating Florida consumer protection statutes by targeting youth and deceptively advertising Zyn nicotine pouches as a “safer and healthier alternative to smoking” on Oct. 2 filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of co-defendant Swedish Match North America LLC after it moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
September 26, 2024
Tobacco Companies Urge Dismissal Of Nicotine Pouch Youth Marketing Claims

HARTFORD, Conn. — Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) and Swedish Match North America LLC filed motions in Connecticut federal court urging dismissal of a Zyn nicotine pouch consumer’s putative class action suit accusing them violating Florida consumer protection statutes by targeting youth and deceptively advertising the pouch products as a “safer and healthier alternative to smoking.”
September 24, 2024
Panel Reverses Order Denying Motion To Compel Arbitration In Care Home Death Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California appellate court reversed and remanded a lower court order denying a nursing home facility’s motion to compel arbitration in a wrongful death suit filed against it over a former resident’s death from drinking industrial cleaner, finding that remand is appropriate to determine whether the arbitration agreement was “validly executed” as well as resolving the issue of arbitrable claims in this case where different persons were agents pursuant to a durable power of attorney (POA) and a health care POA.
September 24, 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 May, June, July, August and September 2024 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.
September 23, 2024
Arborists Can Opine For Both Sides On Reasonable Tree Removal Safety, Judge Says

NEW ORLEANS — Dueling arborists can both testify in a case alleging that a tree-cutting company’s employee negligently allowed a tree to fall into traffic, causing injuries to a driver, a Louisiana federal judge ruled.
September 23, 2024
Federal Florida Magistrate Recommends Allowing Doctor To Testify In Injury Suit

MIAMI — A federal magistrate judge in Florida recommended that a motion to exclude testimony from a woman’s treating physician be denied in a personal injury suit filed against Carnival Corp. for an injury sustained on a cruise ship.
September 23, 2024
Removal Of COVID-19 Suit By Senior Home Was Premature Without Amount In Controversy

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — In a lawsuit filed by the estate of a woman who died in a senior living facility during the COVID-19 pandemic alleging negligence on the part of the facility, a New York federal judge granted the estate’s motion to remand to state court because the amount in controversy was not stated or otherwise determinable, thereby nullifying diversity jurisdiction.
September 20, 2024
Florida Panel Quashes Protective Order, Says Company Attorney Must Give Deposition

MIAMI — Concluding that the petition of a personal injury plaintiff whose postjudgment discovery inquiries into the status of a cab company that failed to pay a judgment against it were thwarted presents “one of the exceptional circumstances in which certiorari lies to review an order denying discovery,” a Florida appellate panel reversed a trial court’s order quashing a subpoena the man issued to the company’s attorney, seeking to depose him.
September 20, 2024
Settlement Reported In Assault Suit Against Snapchat, Which Claimed CDA Immunity

WATERBURY, Conn. — A Connecticut state court judge stated in an order that a settlement was reported but the case was not withdrawn in a suit filed against Snap Inc., which operates the social media platform Snapchat, by the parents of a minor who was sexually assaulted by two men that she met through the platform, with the social media company claiming immunity from liability for the rapists’ actions under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA).
September 19, 2024
Washington Court Affirms $5.75M Asbestos Verdict Against Volkswagen

SEATTLE — A Washington court had jurisdiction over a German automobile manufacturer based on its import deal with a U.S. subsidiary, there was sufficient evidence linking those two companies to a man’s mesothelioma and a trial judge did not err in instructing the jury on causation, a state appellate court said in an unpublished opinion affirming a $5.75 million asbestos verdict.
September 19, 2024
Split 9th Circuit Panel Rules That Uber Had Duty Of Care Toward Its Murdered Driver

SAN FRANCISCO — A split panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a grant of summary judgment by a Washington federal court in favor of a rideshare company in a lawsuit by the estate and survivors of one its drivers stemming from the driver’s murder during a carjacking attempt perpetrated by two people who had signed up for the company’s services with false personal information and a prepaid phone and gift card minutes before being matched with the driver.
September 17, 2024
Jury Awards $39M In Talc Pleurodesis Mesothelioma Case

WOBURN, Mass. — A Massachusetts jury awarded $39,081,142 to a couple for a man’s mesothelioma arising from exposure to talc used during a medical procedure, sources told Mealey Publications.
September 17, 2024
Class Suit Over College’s Handling Of Rapes Dismissed With Prejudice

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan dismissed with prejudice a putative class complaint filed by two female college students against their school over the way in which their reports of being raped by other students were handled.
September 16, 2024
Judge Adds Nearly $91M In Damages To Benzene Verdict Against ExxonMobil

PHILADELPHIA — A state court judge in Pennsylvania on Sept. 13 denied ExxonMobil Corp. a new trial and instead added $90,833,561.65 in delay damages to the $725.5 million verdict a jury awarded to a man who was injured from exposure to benzene, bring his total award to $816,333,561.65.
September 12, 2024
Jury Hands Monsanto A Win In Pennsylvania Glyphosate Cancer Trial

PHILADELPHIA — A jury in a Pennsylvania state court on Sept. 12 ruled in favor of Monsanto Co. in a trial for damages brought by a man who contended that he developed cancer from exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup.
September 11, 2024
5th Circuit Affirms Win For BP In Deepwater Injury Case; Expert Properly Excluded

NEW ORLEANS — A lower court did not err in excluding a man’s causation expert in a Deepwater Horizon oil spill injury case, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, affirming a summary judgment award in favor of BP Exploration & Production Inc. and its affiliates.
September 10, 2024
Plaintiffs Seek $162M In Attorney Fees For Ohio Train Derailment Settlement

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The plaintiffs in the litigation over the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which released toxic chemicals into the air and soil have moved in Ohio federal court for $162 million in attorney fees, reimbursement of $18 million in litigation costs incurred by class counsel and service awards of $15,000 to each class representative.
September 10, 2024
Agent Under POA Alleges Negligence Against Care Home Over Pressure Injuries

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An agent pursuant to a power of attorney (POA) sued a rehabilitation facility, a related entity and the facility owners and operators in a Missouri federal court, asserting that their negligence in failing to adequately staff the facility and provide the appropriate care resulted in a former resident developing pressure injuries, causing “pain, suffering and mental anguish.”