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

Mealey's Personal Injury

March 29, 2023
Illinois Panel Finds Jurisdiction Over Battery Maker In Exploding Vape Suit

CHICAGO — An Illinois appellate panel on March 28 affirmed a trial court’s personal jurisdiction over a Korean battery-maker’s subsidiary in a personal injury lawsuit brought by a man who claims that he was injured by an exploding e-cigarette device after finding that the company sold thousands of its batteries into Illinois for use in other products.
March 29, 2023
Texas Supreme Court Questions Battery Maker On Jurisdiction In Exploding Vape Case

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court during oral arguments questioned a Korean battery-maker and its U.S. subsidiary about their argument that a trial court lacked personal jurisdiction over them in a personal injury lawsuit brought by a man who was burned after a battery they manufactured exploded in his e-cigarette device, which the man’s counsel argues was a “foreseeable” use of the product.
March 29, 2023
11th Circuit Affirms Ruling That Nixed Expert Testimony And Dismissed Cancer Case

ATLANTA — In an unpublished opinion, a panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 28 affirmed a lower court’s decision in a cancer victim’s groundwater contamination lawsuit against Raytheon Technologies Corp. and held that a lower court did not abuse its discretion when it excluded the plaintiffs’ causation experts’ testimony and, therefore, the case was properly dismissed.
March 27, 2023
Court Enters Judgment After Ford Drops Asbestos Settlement Discovery Motion

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A federal judge in North Carolina entered judgment after Ford Motor Co. dropped its motion to compel production of settlements and offsets and assented to judgment based on plaintiff’s concession that settlements exceeded the jury’s $275,000 verdict.
March 24, 2023
UnitedHealthcare Says State Laws Regulating MA Plan ‘Standards’ Are Preempted

SAN FRANCISCO — A California Medicare Advantage (MA) provider filed a supplemental brief with the California Supreme Court in a negligence, elder abuse and wrongful death suit filed against it, contending that state laws purporting to regulate MA plans are preempted as confirmed by the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Medicaid & Medicare Advantage Products Association of Puerto Rico, Inc. v. Emanuelli Hernández, which found, in part, that the legislative history of the Medicare Advantage Act’s preemption clause shows the intent to expand preemption.
March 24, 2023
Woman Sues L’Oreal, Others For Fraud Leading To Injury From Phthalate Exposure

NEW YORK — A woman who says she has been injured as a result of exposure to phthalates in cosmetic products sued L’Oreal USA Inc. and others on March 23 in New York federal court contending that they negligently misrepresented and/or fraudulently represented that their hair-straightening products had been tested and were found to be safe, despite their knowledge to the contrary.
March 24, 2023
Stone Cutters Sue Quartz Makers For Fraud, Exposure To Hazards Causing Silicosis

LOS ANGELES — Two stone cutters have sued multiple companies that make quartz countertops in California state court, contending that they are liable for causing the cutters to develop silicosis by fraudulently concealing the toxic hazards of the products and creating hazardous conditions in which the plaintiffs were exposed to the products in question.
March 21, 2023
Miss. High Court Finds Expert Unqualified, Reverses Judgment Denial In Med-Mal Case

JACKSON, Miss. — Ruling that a trial court abused its discretion in admitting the expert testimony of a physician whose qualifications were not submitted to the court, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s ruling denying summary judgment to a hospital in a medical malpractice case and rendered judgment in favor of the hospital.
March 20, 2023
Tennessee Federal Jury Renders Defense Verdict In Motorcycle Rollover Case

Driver claimed parking brake suddenly engaged; manufacturer said driver’s coat got caught in wheel
March 20, 2023
Texas Judge Adds To Jury’s $11.56M Award For Woman’s Surgical Complications

Past medical expenses, interest added in final judgment against Baylor College of Medicine
March 20, 2023
California Jury: Los Angeles Officer Did Not Assault Woman After Issuing Ticket

City argued that traffic officer acted in self-defense in assault and battery case
March 17, 2023
Florida Federal Jury Says Ethicon Pelvic Mesh Devices Not Defectively Designed

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida federal jury found that there were no design defects in two Ethicon Inc. pelvic mesh devices in the case of a woman who claims that the devices failed to treat her stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and required corrective surgeries.
March 16, 2023
Federal Jury Awards $6.1M To Parents In Louisiana State University Hazing Death Suit

BATON ROUGE, La. — A federal jury in Louisiana has said the parents of a Louisiana State University freshman who died in 2017 of alcohol poisoning following a fraternity hazing incident are entitled to $6.1 million in compensation; however, the university and most of the individual students named in the survival and wrongful death action had reached confidential settlements with the family before trial.
March 16, 2023
Asbestos-Talc Defendants Face Punitive Damages After $20M Verdict

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A federal judge set briefing on the issue of punitive damages after a Connecticut jury found against both asbestos defendants and awarded $20 million in compensatory damages to a woman.
March 15, 2023
Judgment Granted For Government In Negligence Suit Over Veteran’s Cancer Death

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge granted the U.S. government’s motion for summary judgment in a medical negligence suit filed against it by the widow of a veteran alleging that the Veterans Affairs (VA) facility where her husband was treated was negligent because it failed to screen for lung cancer using low-dose computed tomography (LDCT), finding that the widow’s expert witness failed to show that LDCT screening was the required standard of care.
March 14, 2023
Oregon Jury Awards $18.5M In Asbestos Case Against Talc Supplier

PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon jury awarded $18.5 million on negligence and product liability claims stemming from a woman’s death from mesothelioma after exposure to Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc. (WCD) talc.
March 10, 2023
Order Issued After Elder Files Putative Class Fraud Suit Against 55-Plus Community

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on March 9 issued a standing order outlining filing requirements three days after a senior resident of a retirement community filed a putative class action, asserting that the community defrauded seniors and people with disabilities by falsely representing that residents will be provided with needed care services without disclosing that staffing policies are insufficient to meet the residents’ needs.
March 10, 2023
Hearing Held After $12.5M Wrongful Death Verdict In Suit Against Florida Care Home

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida judge held a post-judgment hearing after a jury awarded $12.5 million in a wrongful death suit filed against a nursing home and its owners by the daughter of a former resident, alleging that the defendants failed to prevent and treat a pressure ulcer the woman sustained, which led to her death.
March 10, 2023
Alabama Federal Jury Renders Defense Verdict In Birth Injury Malpractice Case

Child with brachial plexus injury takes nothing in final judgment
March 09, 2023
Despite Expert Testimony, Walmart Granted Summary Judgment In Falling Soda Suit

TAMPA, Fla. — Although permitting a mechanical engineer’s testimony about Walmart’s failure to warn customers about the fall hazards of its gravity-feed shelving units, a federal judge in Florida awarded the retailer summary judgment in a negligence suit against it, finding that the company had no actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition, which caused bottles of soda to fall on a customer.
March 08, 2023
Texas Jury Awards $28.5M To 5 Workers Injured In 2019 Oil Plant Explosion

HOUSTON — A Texas jury has awarded a total of $28,591,000 to five employees injured in a 2019 explosion and fire at Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Baytown Olefins Plant. A sixth plaintiff was awarded a take-nothing judgment.
March 08, 2023
Massachusetts High Court Questions Timeliness Of Smokers’ Wrongful Death Suits

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court during consolidated oral arguments questioned attorneys as to whether the estates of two deceased smokers were barred from bringing wrongful death actions against tobacco companies after trial courts dismissed the lawsuits as time-barred based on the date of diagnosis of tobacco-related illnesses for the smokers’ injuries, rather than the date of death.
March 07, 2023
South Carolina Jury Awards $29.1M In Asbestos-Talc Case

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Plaintiffs awarded $29,139,691 in an asbestos-talc case against Whittaker, Clark & Daniels Inc.(WCD) have asked the court to appoint a receiver for the company, saying that if it isn’t there already, the company faces “imminent danger” of future insolvency.
March 07, 2023
Tobacco Company Argues In Favor Of Juror Interviews After Smoker Wins $6.5M

BOSTON — A tobacco company on March 6 filed a brief in a Massachusetts court denying that it will “harass” jurors by calling them to ask questions about a recent trial at which they awarded $5 million to a smoker with laryngeal cancer who also received $1.5 million in prejudgment interest and urging the court to deny the smoker’s emergency motion to prohibit it from contacting jurors. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
March 07, 2023
Force Expert In, Alternative Design Expert Out In Truck Liftgate Injury Case

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A biomechanical engineer can testify about the force required to operate the liftgate of a truck, but an engineer’s proposed testimony about alternative designs must be excluded because it fails to satisfy the reliability standards of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Federal Rule of Evidence 702, a federal judge in Pennsylvania held in denying in part and granting in part the liftgate designer’s motion in limine.