Product Liability

  • April 01, 2024

    Nike Defeats Greenwashing Suit Over 'Sustainability' Line

    Nike has defeated a proposed class action alleging it greenwashes its clothing by claiming they're made sustainably while using methods that harm the environment, after a Missouri federal judge concluded the plaintiff doesn't explain how she knows the products aren't made with recycled or organic materials and only provides conclusory statements.

  • April 01, 2024

    Ga., FTC Seek $17M+ Fine And Ban On Doc's Stem Cell Ads

    After securing an early win last week against a Georgia doctor and a series of companies that marketed stem cell therapy as a cure-all miracle treatment, federal regulators and the state of Georgia asked a federal judge Monday for $17.7 million in fines and an injunction barring the defendants from any future endeavors in the medical marketing industry.

  • April 01, 2024

    Pool Co. Seeks $4.36M In Atty Fees After False Ad Verdict

    Attorneys from McCarter & English LLP and Womble Bond Dickinson LLP are seeking more than $4 million in fees following a multimillion-dollar verdict in a North Carolina false advertising and unfair business practices suit involving rival pool supply companies.

  • April 01, 2024

    Swedish Match Sued Over Allegedly Youth Targeted Zyn Ads

    Philip Morris International and its subsidiary Swedish Match North America LLC have been hit with a putative class action from an unnamed California man alleging he became addicted to the company's Zyn smokeless oral nicotine pouches when he was a minor because of the product's marketing campaign.

  • April 01, 2024

    Ex-Pharma Co. Exec Denies Signing Noncompete Deal

    The former director of government sales for a pharmaceutical company asked the North Carolina Business Court on Friday to knock out a breach of contract claim in a lawsuit that alleges he took trade secrets to a competitor, arguing the company has no valid noncompete agreement to back it up.

  • April 01, 2024

    3M Gets Final OK On PFAS Deal Worth Up To $12.5B

    A South Carolina federal judge on Friday gave a final nod on a settlement between 3M and about 12,000 public water systems worth up to $12.5 billion to end claims over so-called forever chemicals in firefighting foam, saying that otherwise it would take years to try the cases.

  • April 01, 2024

    J&J Opted To 'Deny' Talc-Cancer Link, Jury Told

    Johnson & Johnson opted to "deny, deny, deny" evidence linking its baby powder to ovarian cancer and continued to market it as safe to use, an attorney for the widower of a longtime baby powder user who died from cancer told jurors in Sarasota, Florida, on Monday.

  • April 01, 2024

    Gas Cos. Must Face State Law Claims In Contamination Row

    Electricity and natural gas company WEC Energy Group Inc. can't dodge all claims by Illinois residents accusing the company and its subsidiary of conspiring with a public relations firm to hide the extent of natural gas contamination in an aquifer that provides drinking water, an Illinois federal judge ruled Sunday.

  • April 01, 2024

    With Suit, NJ City Looks To Clear The Air About Cops' Pot Use

    A New Jersey city's lawsuit demanding clarity over whether state or federal law governs off-duty pot use for cops could help cannabis and employment lawyers navigate a growing battle between workers' rights and workplace safety.

  • March 29, 2024

    Petition Watch: Off-Label Ads, Retiree Discrimination & PPE

    A Utah attorney has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether allegedly retaliatory IRS summonses can be quashed, and two former pharmaceutical executives are challenging the constitutionality of their convictions for marketing the off-label use of a drug. Here, Law360 looks at recently filed petitions that you might've missed.

  • March 29, 2024

    Argentine Gunmaker Accused of Hiding Light Trigger Defect

    An Argentine gun manufacturer was hit with a lawsuit by a Georgia man who says that a dangerous defect in the design of a 9 mm pistol got him shot when the gun accidentally discharged.

  • March 29, 2024

    Texas AG Launches Investigation Into Boeing Parts Supplier

    The Texas attorney general has opened an investigation into a company that produces fuselages for Boeing's 737 jets, saying Thursday that apparent manufacturing defects have caused several dangerous events, including midair emergencies.

  • March 29, 2024

    Strange But True: Product Liability Stories For April Fools'

    Severed digits and fried rodents in food, e-cigarettes shaped like liquor bottles and claims that the advertising for Reese's peanut butter candies dashes consumers' expectations made Law360's list of strange cases for April Fool's.

  • March 29, 2024

    Honda Beats Ill. Fraud Suit Over Rat-Gnawed Car Wires

    Three rat-plagued Chicagoans lost their chance to represent fellow Honda owners in a proposed class action accusing the automaker of covering their vehicles' wires with an insulation that made them susceptible to gnawing, after an Illinois federal judge declared that being attractive to rats wasn't a defect.

  • March 29, 2024

    2nd Circ. Backs Insurer In Sanitizer Ad Injury Coverage Suit

    An insurer doesn't owe coverage to a company accused of falsely advertising that its sanitizing products were effective in disinfecting surfaces, the Second Circuit ruled Friday, affirming a lower court's decision that the underlying class action can't be "reasonably construed" to substantially allege a claim of disparagement.

  • March 29, 2024

    Trash-Truck Maker Escapes Design Suit Over Worker's Death

    A New Jersey appeals panel has thrown out claims against a garbage-truck maker alleging its defective design resulted in a worker's death when the truck hit a pole, saying the plaintiff's expert offered no support for his opinion that the truck was unsafe in its design.

  • March 29, 2024

    10th Circ. Says Insurance Payout Deal In Jet Sale Is Invalid

    An aircraft seller does not owe a purchaser $500,000 in insurance proceeds intended to cover repairs to the aircraft's permanent engines and the installation of temporary engines, the Tenth Circuit affirmed, saying an agreement to pay the proceeds was invalid because of a mutual mistake of fact.

  • March 29, 2024

    NJ Law Firm Can Keep Benicar Malpractice Suit In Fed. Court

    The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has refused to remand to state court a proposed malpractice class action accusing Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman LLC attorneys of unfairly taking an excessive fee out of plaintiffs' settlements in multidistrict litigation over the blood pressure drug Benicar.

  • March 29, 2024

    EPA Sets New Heavy-Duty Vehicle Emissions Regulations

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday said it is finalizing new greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles such as delivery trucks, dump trucks, public utility trucks and buses.

  • March 28, 2024

    Quinn Emanuel Adds Longtime Kirkland Litigator In Chicago

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP's office in Chicago has added a 24-year veteran of Kirkland & Ellis LLP who litigates intellectual property, high-profile torts and product liability matters, the firm announced this week.

  • March 28, 2024

    Judge Powers Down Lenovo Computer Crashing Claims

    A Michigan federal judge on Wednesday scrapped a proposed class action claiming Lenovo marketed a computer as reliable when it allegedly suffered from performance issues, saying the company never promised the computer wouldn't freeze or crash.

  • March 28, 2024

    Claims Trimmed In Trader Joe's Chocolate Heavy Metals Suit

    A California judge has dismissed five out of nine claims in a consolidated complaint alleging that Trader Joe's Co. misled consumers by failing to disclose that its dark chocolate bars contain heavy metals, finding that the complaint doesn't do enough to allege that the amounts are actually dangerous.

  • March 28, 2024

    Meta Says Speech Immunity Dooms Instagram Addiction Case

    Meta on Thursday asked a Massachusetts judge to toss a lawsuit alleging it has intentionally misled users about Instagram features purportedly designed to addict children and teens, saying it is shielded both by federal law and the First Amendment.

  • March 28, 2024

    Reynolds Falsely Hypes Foil As 'Made In USA,' Suit Says

    Reynolds Wrap misleadingly claims its aluminum is made in the United States although a significant amount of aluminum production takes place elsewhere, and none of the bauxite ore used to make it is mined in the U.S., according to a proposed class action filed in New York federal court.

  • March 28, 2024

    FDA Warns 61 Stores Over Illegal Vape Sales

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week sent warnings to 61 retailers for selling illegal Lava and Elf Bar cigarettes, saying that both of the unauthorized brands are popular with young people.

Expert Analysis

  • Preparing Law Students For A New, AI-Assisted Legal World

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    As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the legal landscape, law schools must integrate technology and curricula that address AI’s innate challenges — from ethics to data security — to help students stay ahead of the curve, say Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics, Ryan Abbott at JAMS and Karen Silverman at Cantellus Group.

  • How Social Media Can Affect Trial Outcomes

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    With social media’s ability to seize upon an issue and spin it into a specifically designed narrative, it is more critical than ever that a litigation communications strategy be part of trial planning to manage the impact of legal action on a company's reputation, say Sean Murphy and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • General Counsel Need Data Literacy To Keep Up With AI

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    With the rise of accessible and powerful generative artificial intelligence solutions, it is imperative for general counsel to understand the use and application of data for myriad important activities, from evaluating the e-discovery process to monitoring compliance analytics and more, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Opinion

    Civil Litigation Against Gun Businesses Can Reduce Violence

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    With mass shootings skyrocketing, and gun control legislation blocked by powerful interest groups, civil litigation can help obtain justice for victims by targeting parties responsible beyond the immediate perpetrator — including gun manufacturers, dealers and retailers, says Tom D'Amore at D'Amore Law Group.

  • Navigating Discovery Of Generative AI Information

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools become increasingly ubiquitous, companies must make sure to preserve generative AI data when there is reasonable expectation of litigation, and to include transcripts in litigation hold notices, as they may be relevant to discovery requests, say Nick Peterson and Corey Hauser at Wiley.

  • Finding Focus: Strategies For Attorneys With ADHD

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    Given the prevalence of ADHD among attorneys, it is imperative that the legal community gain a better understanding of how ADHD affects well-being, and that resources and strategies exist for attorneys with this disability to manage their symptoms and achieve success, say Casey Dixon at Dixon Life Coaching and Krista Larson at Stinson.

  • Opinion

    Time To Ban Deferred Prosecution For Fatal Corporate Crime

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    As illustrated by prosecutors’ deals with Boeing and other companies, deferred prosecution agreements have strayed far from their original purpose, and Congress must ban the use of this tool in cases where corporate misconduct has led to fatalities, says Peter Reilly at Texas A&M University School of Law.

  • Why Hemp-Synthesized Intoxicants Need Uniform Regs

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    State laws regulating hemp-synthesized intoxicants are a patchwork with little consistency between any given state, and without the adoption of a uniform regulatory framework, producers and consumers alike will need to be very cautious, say Dylan Anderson and Seth Goldberg at Duane Morris.

  • Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence

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    Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Analyzing The Legal Ripples Of The EPA's PFAS Regulation

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    As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency makes major moves on its pledge to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the developing body of PFAS regulation will lead to an increase in litigation, and personal injury and product liability claims, say attorneys at Gordon & Rees.

  • Boeing Opinion Strikes Blow Against Overpayment Theory

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    The Fifth Circuit's decision in Earl v. Boeing Co. casts doubt on consumers' standing to bring claims of overpayment for products later revealed to have defects — and suggests that it's more likely that those products would have been removed from the market, driving up the price of alternatives, say attorneys at Bush Seyferth.

  • Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes

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    Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.

  • Opinion

    Test Results Signal Poor Odds For Lead Cables Litigation

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    After sites in New York and New Jersey allegedly contaminated with lead by telecommunications cables were found by state and federal agencies to present no imminent threats to public health, it seems unlikely that mass litigation over this issue by plaintiffs firms or state attorneys general will succeed, says Andrew Ketterer at Ketterer & Ketterer.

  • Ga. Ruling A Win For Plaintiffs Injured By Older Products

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    The Georgia Supreme Court's recent opinion in Ford Motor Co. v. Cosper gives plaintiffs the assurance that even if they are injured by older products, they can still bring claims under state law if the manufacturer used a design that it knew, or should have known, created a risk of substantial harm, says Rob Snyder at Cannella Snyder.

  • Class Action Defense: Don't Give Up On Bristol-Myers Squibb

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    Federal appellate court decisions in the six years since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Bristol-Myers Squibb show that it's anyone's ballgame in class action jurisdictional arguments, so defendants are encouraged to consider carefully whether, where and when arguing lack of specific personal jurisdiction may be advantageous, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

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