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Mealey's Personal Injury

  • January 31, 2025

    11th Circuit Grants Joint Motion To Dismiss Appeals In Traffic Stop Death Case

    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a joint motion to dismiss with prejudice the cross-appeals of a deceased motorist and the motorist’s injured passenger and a city and city police officer seeking review of several Alabama federal court rulings in a case involving a traffic stop and chase that culminated in a crash and shooting of the motorist and passenger by the officer.

  • January 29, 2025

    Tobacco Company, Retailer Settle Wrongful Death Suit Brought By Widower

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A tobacco company, retailer and the widower of a dead smoker settled a wrongful death suit brought in Massachusetts state court by the widower the day after openings in the trial were held regarding the widower’s claims that they are liable for his wife’s death from lung cancer at age 59 after she got hooked on smoking when she was given free samples of cigarettes as a 14-year-old.

  • January 28, 2025

    Mass. Justice Trebles Damages, Enters $105M Judgment For Smoker’s Cancer Death

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts state court justice entered judgment worth roughly $105 million in favor of the widower of a smoker who got hooked on cigarettes after being handed a free sample at age 12 and died from lung cancer at age 59, after adding attorney fees and interest to the jury’s $10.6 million verdict, then adding additional trebled damages due to the tobacco company’s “unfair and deceptive trade practices.”

  • January 28, 2025

    Character.AI Defendants: Speech Concerns, Other Defects Doom Negligence Suit

    ORLANDO, Fla. — The company behind Character.AI and various related parties urged a federal judge in Florida to dismiss a suit claiming its artificial intelligence led to a teen’s suicide, saying free speech, product liability law and jurisdictional issues all doom the action.

  • January 27, 2025

    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 January to December 2024 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.

  • January 27, 2025

    No Error In Excluding Experts, Dismissing Claim In Suit Against Driver, Employer

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said a district court did not abuse its discretion in barring experts from testifying on the timing of inclement weather that a tractor-trailer driver encountered before a crash or in excluding expert testimony on whether the driver was acting within the standard of care.

  • January 24, 2025

    New Jersey State Officials Have Qualified Immunity For Orders Addressing COVID-19

    CAMDEN, N.J. — Concluding that that they were entitled to qualified immunity in their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to nursing homes, a New Jersey federal court granted a motion to dismiss by New Jersey’s governor and public health commissioner in a lawsuit by survivors of former nursing home residents who died from COVID-19.

  • January 24, 2025

    SharkNinja Wins Final Judgment In Faulty Blender Case After Judge Excluded Expert

    INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana federal judge entered final judgment in favor of SharkNinja Operating LLC after finding that an expert retained by a woman who alleges that she was injured by a defective blender was excluded from testifying and the judge granted its motion for summary judgment.

  • January 24, 2025

    Judge Nixes Company’s Bid To End Fracking Case, Says Material Questions Exist

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied an oil company’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit alleging it is liable for an injury sustained by a worker at a hydraulic fracturing well pad, ruling that “the self-serving evidence submitted by the parties is insufficient to show that there are no questions of material fact” in the case.

  • January 24, 2025

    J&J, Man Awarded $15M By Connecticut Jury Debate Punitive Damages, Experts

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — In a quartet of briefs filed in a Connecticut court, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) entities and a mesothelioma sufferer who was awarded $15 million briefed the size of the award, what amount the court should award as punitive damages and whether the court properly admitted experts and instructed the jury.

  • January 16, 2025

    Heart Pump Maker Says Wrongful Death Case Cannot Survive Preemption Argument

    ST. LOUIS — A husband and daughter failed to allege how a surgically implanted heart pump was defectively designed or how that alleged defect caused a woman’s death, the manufacturer of the device argues in a reply brief to its motion for judgment on the pleadings, urging the Missouri federal court to find that the claims are preempted by federal law.

  • January 15, 2025

    Seattle Jury Awards $100M To 4 Plaintiffs In School PCB Case Against Monsanto

    SEATTLE — A jury in Washington state on Jan. 14 awarded four plaintiffs a total of $100 million in compensatory and punitive damages against Monsanto Co. in a trial over injuries allegedly caused by exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a Seattle-area school.  The plaintiffs had sought $4.14 billion in punitive damages.

  • January 14, 2025

    High Court Declines To Review Denial Of Qualified Immunity In Prison COVID-19 Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 denied the petition for writ of certiorari of prison officials seeking review of a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision reversing a Michigan federal court’s dismissal of a prisoner’s civil rights complaint against the officials stemming from their management of the prison in response to COVID-19.

  • January 14, 2025

    Mother Seeks $1.5M For Daughter’s Legionella Death Tied To Flint Water Crisis

    DETROIT — The mother of a deceased woman has moved for approval of a $1.5 million settlement for the daughter’s wrongful death from Legionella exposure at a Flint, Mich., hospital that occurred in the wake of the lead-contaminated water crisis in that city.

  • January 14, 2025

    Pennsylvania Judge Molds Verdict, Handing J&J Win In Asbestos-Talc Case

    PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania judge molded an inconsistent verdict in favor of Johnson & Johnson, wrapping a more-than-monthlong trial that included a break for the holiday season by handing the company and various of its entities a defense verdict in the asbestos-talc case.

  • January 13, 2025

    Tenn. Federal Judge Allows Expert Witness Testimony In Medical Malpractice Case

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal judge denied dueling motions to exclude the other party’s causation and standard of care expert witnesses in a medical malpractice case after finding that all four experts meet admissibility standards under state and federal law.

  • January 10, 2025

    Statute Of Limitations Bars New Jersey University COVID-19 Quarantine Death Lawsuit

    NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge dismissed without prejudice a lawsuit brought by the estate and parents of a college sophomore who died while in COVID-19 isolation during the school year after contracting the disease, ruling that the statute of limitations had run on wrongful death and negligence claims and that contract and fraud claims were deficient.

  • January 06, 2025

    Ohio High Court Remands Discovery Privilege Dispute In Medical Malpractice Suit

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — Chiding a trial court for “erroneously limit[ing] its own power to control the discovery process,” the Ohio Supreme Court remanded a disagreement over whether a treating physician’s residency file is protected by the peer-review privilege, instructing the trial court to use in camera review, among other inquiries, in determining whether the privilege applies.

  • January 03, 2025

    11th Circuit Denies Rehearing In Remanded Assisted Living COVID Wrongful Death Case

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied an assisted living facility’s petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc of a split panel decision affirming a judgment of a Florida federal court remanding to state court a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the personal representatives of a woman who died from COVID-19 while under the care of the facility.

  • December 23, 2024

    Florida Federal Judge Allows 5 Rebuttal Experts In Toxic Exposure Case

    ORLANDO, Fla. — “Disagreement with an expert’s premises is classic cross-examination fodder” and not grounds for exclusion under Federal Rule of Evidence 702, a federal judge in Florida noted in an order denying five motions to exclude filed in an environmental contamination case.

  • December 20, 2024

    Amazon Refutes Claims As To Quality Of Care In Telehealth Death Suit Against It

    OAKLAND, Calif. — In response to a wrongful death and medical malpractice suit filed in a California state court against Amazon One Medical, a virtual and in-office health care provider, regarding alleged negligent virtual care, an Amazon One Medical spokesperson in a Dec. 19 email reply to Mealey Publications said, “While we are prohibited by law from discussing patient records, we refute claims that a change in the duration of visits or location of a virtual visit has impacted the care provided at Amazon One Medical.”

  • December 20, 2024

    CPAP MDL Judge Dismisses Actions Against SoClean, Says Not Appropriately Filed

    PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal judge who oversees the two related multidistrict litigations involving the recall of approximately 10.8 million continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) sleep apnea devices dismissed a third-party complaint filed in one of the MDLs by the manufacturer of recalled CPAP machines, which asked that the manufacturer of equipment that uses ozone to clean and disinfect the machines be forced to contribute to settlement agreements and ruled that a putative class action against the same party “is an entirely new lawsuit” and dismissed it from the MDL docket.

  • December 18, 2024

    Government Seeks Exclusion Of Another Witness In Flint Water Tort Claims Act Case

    DETROIT — The U.S. government on Dec. 17 filed a reply brief in Michigan federal court calling for the exclusion of yet another plaintiffs’ expert witness in the $722.4 million Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit against the government related to the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint, Mich., this time on grounds that a doctor’s “lack of medical training disqualifies her from offering testimony that would speculate about the etiologies” of the plaintiffs’ alleged physical conditions related to the contaminated water. 

  • December 18, 2024

    $91M Awarded To Smoker And Wife For His Laryngeal Cancer

    KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — A Hawaii state court jury awarded $91 million to a smoker and his wife against a tobacco company they accused of causing him to become addicted to cigarettes and eventually develop laryngeal cancer, with the verdict comprising $6 million in compensatory damages and $85 million in punitive damages.  VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • December 17, 2024

    Judge Stays Discovery In Lawsuit Over Alleged Workers’ Comp Scheme

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge has stayed discovery pending resolution of expected dismissal motions in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit where a reinsurer and management general agency allege that the defendants took part in purportedly fraudulent workers’ compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits.