Mealey's Personal Injury
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February 09, 2023
Panel Says Expert Report Lacks Causation In Negligence Suit Against Nursing Home
TYLER, Texas— A Texas appellate court reversed and remanded an order denying a nursing home’s dismissal motion and overruling its objections to an estate representative’s expert report in a negligence suit filed against the nursing home after a woman died there, finding that the lower court erred because the report failed to show the expert’s qualifications or causation between the purported injury and death.
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February 09, 2023
Manufacturers’ Expert Out In Design Defect Case; Reconsideration Motion Fails
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge found that a motion for reconsideration of an order excluding an expert witness was untimely and an attempt for a “second bite of the apple,” upholding a previous order that ruled that a trucking manufacturer’s expert in a design defect case cannot testify that the company’s service manuals were reasonable for the industry.
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February 08, 2023
Panel: Expert On Alternative Design Wrongfully Excluded In Forklift Injury Case
CHICAGO — A trial court erred in excluding expert testimony in a design defect case, and this error warrants a new trial, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, remanding the design defect case to the district court.
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February 07, 2023
Smoker’s Sister Seeks Attorney Fees After Defeat At Florida Supreme Court
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A dead smoker’s sister argues in a brief to the Florida Supreme Court that she is entitled to appellate attorney fees under Florida’s proposal for settlement (PFS) statute despite the court’s Jan. 5 affirmance of an appellate panel’s reversal of a jury’s punitive $16 million damages award in her favor because the court left intact a compensatory damages award that she says is far enough above her PFS to trigger the statute.
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February 03, 2023
Federal Jury Awards $275,000 In Asbestos Case Against Ford
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A federal jury in North Carolina found Ford Motor Co. liable under a product liability failure-to-warn cause of action and awarded $275,000 on his widow’s wrongful death claim.
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February 03, 2023
6th Circuit Uphold Expert’s Exclusion, Summary Judgment Award In Crash Suit
CINCINNATI — An accident reconstructionist retained by the family of a man killed when he was struck by a semi-truck failed to show that his methodology was reliable enough to pass muster under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, affirming the exclusion of the expert’s opinions and grant of summary judgment to the defendants.
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February 02, 2023
California Jury Awards $25M In Punitive Damages Against Care Home For Elder Abuse
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — A California state court jury awarded $25 million in punitive damages, plus $5.9 million in compensatory damages, against a skilled nursing facility and its corporate owners in a suit filed against them by the family of a former resident alleging elder neglect, custodial negligence, constructive fraud, violations of the Patients’ Bill of Rights and wrongful death after the man acquired pressure sores and died almost a year later.
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February 01, 2023
Man Injured By Liquid Nitrogen At Restaurant Says Triable Issues Of Fact Remain
ATLANTA — A man who was injured by exposure to liquid nitrogen while dining at a restaurant has filed a response brief in Georgia state appellate court, arguing that a lower court properly denied the restaurant’s motion for summary judgment dismissal of the man’s claim because it correctly determined that triable issues of fact remain that must be resolved by a jury.
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February 01, 2023
Magistrate: Treating Doctor Can’t Opine On Causation Of Injuries From Fall
MIAMI — A Florida federal magistrate judge recommended that an emergency room doctor who examined a woman who claims that she was injured in a cruise ship bathroom be excluded from offering causation testimony.
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February 01, 2023
Jury Awards $6M To Dead Smoker’s Children In Engle Trial
MIAMI — A Florida state court jury found that a dead smoker was an Engle class member and awarded the smoker’s two children $6 million in damages after finding that, contrary to a tobacco company’s arguments, her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) manifested during the Engle class membership period. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
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January 31, 2023
Federal Judge Rules For Amazon In Insurer’s Strict Products Liability Suit
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A federal judge in Minnesota granted Amazon.com Inc.’s motion for summary judgment and denied an insurer’s motion to certify a question to the Minnesota Supreme Court, finding that pursuant to Minnesota law, strict products liability applies only to sellers and manufacturers of defective products.
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January 30, 2023
Judge: Parts Of Experts’ Testimony In Power Tool Accident Case Are Unreliable
PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal judge limited the testimony expected from two experts retained by a man who lost two fingers while using a Black & Decker router, finding that some testimony is admissible and that the manufacturer’s move for summary judgment fails.
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January 27, 2023
Jury Awards Smoker’s Widow $5M For Lung Cancer Death
MIAMI — A Florida state court jury in an Engle case awarded $5 million to the widow and estate of a dead smoker but apportioned 40% of fault for the smoker’s death to himself after the widow argued that he got hooked on cigarettes at age 14 while a tobacco company lawyer argued that the smoker disregarded certain health risks and also used drugs such as cocaine and marijuana. VIDEO OF THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
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January 24, 2023
$732,167 Final Judgment Entered For Plaintiff Injured By Cruise Ship Bunk Bed
Jury in second trial in maritime injury case finds cruise line, cabin steward negligent
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January 24, 2023
Georgia Federal Jury Finds For Grocery Store In Premises Liability Suit
Customer said she was injured after slipping on spilled shampoo
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January 19, 2023
Crash Suit Parties Reach Settlement Day After Judge Allows Expert Testimony
LAS VEGAS — Parties involved in a car accident suit filed a notice in a Nevada federal court on Jan. 18 stating that they have reached a settlement, one day after a federal judge denied a motion to exclude a woman’s expert who would opine on her future medical needs.
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January 17, 2023
Architect Can Testify In Fall Case Against Hotel But Can’t Opine On New Repairs
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A federal judge in Puerto Rico ruled that a hotel can cross-examine an architect who opines that a woman fell in the hotel’s stairway because of negligence to point out deficiencies in his conclusions but said the testimony is not inadmissible, though she agreed to strike a portion of his testimony that she found unfairly prejudicial.
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January 17, 2023
Texas Criminal Appeals Court Finds Any Error In Officer’s Testimony To Be Harmless
AUSTIN, Texas — A trial court’s error in admitting a police officer's direct opinion testimony on the credibility of a child who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a family friend was harmless and had little influence on the jury, the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals found, reversing an appellate court decision that remanded the case for a new trial.
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January 13, 2023
Judge Finds Jurisdiction Lacking In 3M Ear Plug Fraudulent Transfer Suit
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Florida courts lack jurisdiction over an action alleging fraudulent transfer and seeking to enjoin 3M Co.’s conduct related to the bankruptcy of subsidiary Aearo Technologies LLC stemming from Combat Arms earplug litigation, a federal judge in Florida said.
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January 13, 2023
8th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of Tribal Member’s Negligence Suit Over Crash
ST. LOUIS — A Native American who was seriously injured in an auto/lawnmower accident on the property of a tribal hospital cannot pursue negligence claims against the United States because sovereign immunity bars the claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in affirming dismissal of the case.
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January 11, 2023
Expert Correctly Excluded In Wrongful Death Suit, Utah Appeals Court Says
SALT LAKE CITY — A trial court did not err in excluding an expert retained by the estate of a man whom it alleges died as a result of negligence by a nursing home, a Utah appeals court ruled, also finding that because the estate failed to establish medical causation, summary judgment was also appropriate.
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January 10, 2023
Parties Reach $408M Settlement In Ethylene Oxide Injury Cases
CHICAGO — Sotera Health Co., the parent of medical sterilization company Sterigenics US LLC, on Jan. 9 announced that it has reached agreements to settle more than 870 ethylene oxide (EtO) poisoning cases pending against Sterigenics for $408 million.
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January 09, 2023
Valve Maker Hit With $23M Asbestos Verdict In New York
NEW YORK — A New York jury awarded $23 million to a man suffering from mesothelioma and found valve manufacturer Jenkins Bros. 90% liable.
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January 09, 2023
Judge Dismisses Companies In Wrongful Death Suit, Cites No Personal Jurisdiction
GREENVILLE, S.C. — A South Carolina federal judge granted dismissal to two out-of-state parent companies of a nursing home in an elder abuse and wrongful death suit filed against them by an estate representative for a man who died at the nursing home, finding that the federal court lacks personal jurisdiction over the parent companies because they did not forfeit their personal jurisdiction defense and they are not subject to specific jurisdiction.
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January 09, 2023
Mistrial Declared In Dead Smoker’s Daughter’s Suit Against Tobacco Company
SANTA FE, N.M. — A mistrial was recently declared during jury deliberations in a lawsuit brought in New Mexico state court by the daughter of a late smoker who had accused a tobacco company of causing her father’s death from laryngeal cancer by defectively designing its cigarettes to be too addictive and too easily inhalable.