Mealey's Toxic Torts : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Toxic Torts

January 25, 2024
Request For Discovery Order Is ‘Poorly Advised,’ Hair Relaxer Plaintiffs Say

CHICAGO — Plaintiffs in a suit against cosmetic companies over alleged injuries related to hair relaxer products filed a brief in Illinois federal court on Jan. 24 contending that the defendants’ request for a court order establishing procedures for dealing with discovery disputes is “poorly advised and should be rejected in its entirety.”
January 25, 2024
Parties File Competing Briefs In Monsanto’s Appeal Of $185M PCB Verdict

SEATTLE — Teachers who won a total award of $185 million against Monsanto Co. in 2021 for injuries from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a Seattle area school where they taught and Monsanto have each filed supplemental briefs in Washington state appeals court debating the applicability of the Washington Product Liability Act (WPLA). Monsanto says the trial court’s refusal to apply the WPLA’s statute of repose was unconstitutional, while the teachers continue to argue that the trial court correctly applied Missouri law.
January 24, 2024
New York Panel Affirms Landlord’s Liability For Lead Paint Poisoning

NEW YORK — An appellate court panel in New York on Jan. 23 affirmed a trial court ruling and held that a landlord is liable for lead poisoning of a tenant’s child by failing to remediate the hazard in a case involving a subtenancy arrangement that was not approved by the landlord. The panel said that despite the landlord’s claims that the subtenancy violated the rental contract, it had constructive notice that an infant lived in the premises and was exposed to lead-based paint.
January 24, 2024
PFAS Defendant Says Complaint Is ‘Insufficient,’ Fails To State Causes Of Action

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A defendant in a lawsuit alleging injuries from exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has moved in South Carolina federal court to dismiss the amended complaint on grounds that it is “insufficient as a matter of law and fails to state cognizable causes of actions for negligence and strict liability.”
January 24, 2024
Calif. Panel: State Agency Did Not Violate Water Code By Rejecting Mitigation Work

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Santa Ana Region, did not violate the California Water Code by finding that an engineering company’s attempts to mitigate hazardous tetrachloroethylene (PCE) vapors at its facility were inadequate because the board did not order the company to perform any specific kind of mitigation work, a California panel found in affirming a trial court’s decision to deny a company’s petition for writ of administrative mandate.
January 23, 2024
Defendants: Witness From Prior Flint Trial Allowed To Testify In Current Class Case

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Three related engineering firms on trial for alleged violations in connection with the Flint water crisis filed a brief in Michigan federal court on Jan. 22 opposing a motion to exclude, contending that the testimony of a witness for another defendant in the Flint bellwether trial is admissible in the case at hand, which is a separate class action, under Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(1) because he is not available to testify live due to a settlement agreement that prevents the other defendant from providing its employees to testify in other trials about the water crisis.
January 22, 2024
Panel Says District Court Properly Dismissed Insured’s Suit For Lack Of Jurisdiction

NEW ORLEANS — A district court properly dismissed a fire-suppressing foam distributor’s breach of contract and bad faith suit against its insurer, which denied coverage for a subpoena served on the insured in an underlying multidistrict litigation suit seeking damages for bodily injuries and contaminated drinking water caused by the use of the foam, because the lower court properly found that it lacked specific personal jurisdiction over the insurer, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said.
January 22, 2024
Investor: Verizon Broke Law With Decision To Leave Toxic Cables Underground

TRENTON, N.J. — A shareholder has filed a complaint in New Jersey federal court contending that Verizon Communications Inc. and its board of directors violated federal securities laws and committed fraud in connection with the company’s decision to leave toxic cable wires buried in the ground nationwide, which allowed the wires to contaminate groundwater.
January 22, 2024
Woman With Cancer Sues Monsanto, Says Roundup Is ‘Dangerous To Human Health’

INDIANAPOLIS — A woman with cancer on Jan. 18 sued Monsanto Co. in Indiana federal court contending that it is liable for her injury because it engaged in negligent and wrongful conduct when it sold the herbicide Roundup because it contains glyphosate, which is “defective, dangerous to human health, unfit and unsuitable to be marketed and sold in commerce.”
January 19, 2024
6th Circuit Refuses Rehearing En Banc For Firefighter’s PFAS Injury Case

CINCINNATI — A panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 18 denied a firefighter’s petition for rehearing en banc of the panel’s ruling that he failed to allege “any plausible pathway” by which per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) had gotten into his bloodstream. The firefighter had argued that “undisputed evidence” showed that each defendant in the class action made PFAS and bears responsibility for contaminating his blood.
January 19, 2024
Woman Seeks Default Judgment Against Defendant In Camp Lejeune Phone Call Case

WHEELING, W.Va. — A woman representing a putative class on Jan. 18 moved for an entry of default against a law group that is a defendant in a lawsuit over alleged illegal phone calls soliciting clients for mass tort cases relating to toxic water exposure at Camp Lejeune, arguing that it is currently unrepresented in the lawsuit and the case is effectively at a standstill.
January 19, 2024
Woman Sues Navy For PFAS Contamination Of Island’s Groundwater Supply

SEATTLE — A woman has sued the US. Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Department of the Navy in Washington federal court seeking damages for allegedly contaminating groundwater with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) through discharges of the chemical at a Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island.
January 19, 2024
Government: DuPont Is Necessary Party In Injury Case About Chloroprene Emissions

NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. government has filed a brief in Louisiana federal court arguing that DuPont Specialty Products USA LLC is a necessary party in a chemical injury lawsuit involving carcinogenic chloroprene emissions from neoprene manufacturing operations and, therefore, the district court should deny DuPont’s motion for judgment on the pleadings in which it insists that it must be dismissed from the case.
January 18, 2024
Justice Dismisses Injury Case, Says Plaintiff Did Not Satisfy Medical Latency Period

NEW YORK — A New York justice has ruled that a man who claimed that he got lung cancer from working as a painter on numerous construction sites in the city had not established that his injuries were caused by his work at those sites. Instead, the justice said that defense experts showed that the medical latency period for the injuries in question had not been satisfied.
January 18, 2024
Monsanto Says $784M PCB Punitive Damages Award Is ‘Staggering,’ Seeks Offset

SEATTLE — Monsanto Co. has moved in Washington state court seeking remittitur and offset of an $857 million combined verdict related to injuries from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a Seattle area school, arguing that the total punitive damages award of $784 million for eight plaintiffs “cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny.”
January 18, 2024
Class Suit: Food Products Toxic Due To High Levels Of Lead And Other Materials

MIAMI — Consumers have filed a putative class action in Florida federal court contending that the makers of applesauce and apple cinnamon fruit puree pouches are liable for recklessly or intentionally failing to disclose that the products were “toxic and unfit for human consumption and contained hazardous levels of lead, as well as high levels of chromium and potentially other toxic materials.”
January 17, 2024
High Court Told ‘Chaos’ Will Ensue ‘In A World Without Chevron’ Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court was told Jan. 17 that “chaos” will ensue “in a world without Chevron” deference by government attorneys, who urged it to apply stare decisis and uphold Chevron, which is being challenged in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations.
January 18, 2024
Judge Says Flint Trial Against Engineering Firm Will Consider Nonparties At Fault

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan has denied a request by plaintiffs in the Flint water crisis litigation and ruled that a forthcoming trial against an engineering firm that was involved in switching the city’s water supply will consider the issue of nonparties at fault, such as the state and city officials who participated in that decision.
January 17, 2024
In Case Sent To MDL, Plaintiffs Say Paraquat Makers Are Liable For Wrongful Death

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) on Jan. 16 transferred a wrongful death lawsuit to the MDL in Illinois federal court for litigation involving injuries allegedly caused by the pesticide paraquat. The transferred case alleges that the makers of paraquat knew, or should have known, of the hazardous nature of the product.
January 17, 2024
PFAS Defendant Says Plaintiffs Fail To State A Claim, Damages Not Recoverable

BOSTON — A defendant in a lawsuit alleging drinking water contamination by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on Jan. 16 filed an answer in Massachusetts federal court denying the allegations against it and asserting affirmative defenses arguing that the plaintiffs fail to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
January 17, 2024
Government Says Release Of Camp Lejeune Water Report Would Be Premature

RALEIGH, N.C. — The U.S. government on Jan. 16 filed a brief in North Carolina federal court arguing that a magistrate judge properly denied the plaintiffs’ motion to compel the government to produce documents related to a federal agency’s draft study examining human health effects associated with exposure to the drinking water at the U.S. Marine Corps Base at Camp Lejeune. The government says the need to avoid damage from the premature release of the report outweighs the plaintiffs’ need.
January 17, 2024
Judge Denies Monsanto’s Bid To Exclude Witness In Glyphosate Cancer Lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California has denied Monsanto Co.’s effort to exclude a plaintiff’s expert in a glyphosate cancer lawsuit, ruling that Monsanto’s reasoning for why the expert should be stricken “does not find any support” in the cases Monsanto cited in support of its argument.
January 16, 2024
Judge Says PFAS Cases Related To Tampon Products Fail To State A Claim

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on Jan. 12 dismissed two related cases that had been combined, ruling that the plaintiffs did not plausibly allege that the defendants’ tampon products contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and that the allegations were “insufficient to state a plausible claim for relief.”
January 16, 2024
L’Oreal Denies Claims In Hair Relaxer Case, Says Punitive Damages ‘Impermissible’

CHICAGO — L’Oreal USA Inc. on Jan. 12 filed an answer in Illinois federal court denying claims brought against it by users of its hair relaxer products, arguing that the products are not toxic. L’Oreal also denies that it engaged in “wrongful practices” in marketing the product and says punitive damages are “impermissible” pursuant to U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
January 12, 2024
Judge: Claims For Negligent Medical Care Survive In Water Case Against U.S. Navy

HONOLULU — A federal judge in Hawaii on Jan. 11 dismissed some claims in a contaminated groundwater case against the U.S. Navy but ruled that the medical negligence claims of 77 of 298 plaintiffs survived because there is sufficient evidence that the government failed to give proper medical care.