Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Personal Injury

  • 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.”

  • September 09, 2024

    Company Urges Dismissal After Arbitration Bid Denied In Care Home Negligence Suit

    NORTHERN JACKSON, Miss. — One day after a Mississippi federal judge denied a skilled nursing facility’s motion to compel arbitration in a negligence and medical malpractice suit filed against it and an affiliated limited liability corporation by a former resident through his guardian, the company filed a reply brief urging the judge to dismiss the case against it for lack of personal jurisdiction.

  • September 09, 2024

    TikTok Not Immune From Its Own First-Party Expression In Curating, Promoting Videos

    PHILADELPHIA — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed in part and vacated in part the judgment of a Pennsylvania trial court dismissing a lawsuit by the mother of a 10-year-old girl who accidentally asphyxiated herself after watching a video encouraging similar behavior curated by an online video service and featured on the girl’s “For You Page,” ruling that the curation and promotion of videos is first-party expressive conduct, not third-party conduct for which the service was immune from liability under the Communications Decency Act (CDA).

  • September 06, 2024

    Testimony From Officer’s Expert On Man’s Injuries Limited In Use Of Force Case

    BOISE, Idaho — An expert retained by a police officer who is facing allegations that he violated a man’s constitutional rights during an arrest cannot testify about the cause of his injuries because his conclusions are not based on facts in evidence, an Idaho federal judge ruled.

  • September 06, 2024

    Eyeing Appeal Of $8.8M Asbestos Verdict, Company Defends Appellate Bond

    LOS ANGELES — While an appellate bond might not name all the plaintiffs, the size of the bond ensures that all of the plaintiffs’ interests are protected, a company found partly liable for a nearly $9 million in asbestos verdict tells a California court in opposing a motion objecting to the bond amount.

  • September 04, 2024

    Philips Argues For Discovery Consolidation In Related CPAP MDLs

    PITTSBURGH — Koninklijke Philips N.V., Philips North America LLC and Philips RS North America LLC (collectively, Philips) asked the judge overseeing two related multidistrict litigations involving the recall of approximately 10.8 million Philips continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea devices and respirators to rule that documents produced in one MDL can be used in the other.

  • September 04, 2024

    Traffic Stop Plaintiffs Appeal Jury Award Adjustments, Grant Of Qualified Immunity

    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The estate of a deceased motorist and the motorist’s passenger involved in a traffic stop and chase that culminated in a crash and shooting and who sought damages from an Alabama city and city police officer for wrongful death and excessive force filed a notice of appeal to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking review of several orders of an Alabama federal court, including the vacatur of a $1.5 million award to the passenger based on qualified immunity granted to the police officer.