Product Liability

  • November 05, 2024

    Meta Owed No Coverage For Social Media MDL, Hartford Says

    Two Hartford units told a Delaware state court they should have no duty to defend Meta Platforms Inc., parent of Facebook and Instagram, against numerous lawsuits accusing the social media giant of deliberately designing its platforms to be addictive to adolescents and concealing its harmful effects on them. 

  • November 05, 2024

    Boeing Machinists Ratify New Contract, Ending Strike

    A majority of 33,000 Boeing employees represented by the Machinists union voted Monday to ratify a new labor contract that includes a 38% wage increase over four years, ending a nearly two-month strike that hampered Boeing's production and cash flow.

  • November 05, 2024

    On The Ground: How Attorneys Safeguarded The Election

    Attorneys worked tirelessly Tuesday to support citizens and election workers on the final day of voting in one of history's most contentious presidential contests.

  • November 04, 2024

    Kroger, State AGs Finalize Sprawling $1.37B Opioid Deal

    Kroger will pay $1.37 billion to dozens of states and thousands of counties, municipalities and Native American tribes to resolve allegations the grocery store chain contributed to the opioid crisis, with Ohio, California and Texas seeing the largest distributions, according to a finalized settlement unveiled Monday.

  • November 04, 2024

    Hilton Gets $30M Punitive Damages Injury Award Cut To $10M

    A New York federal judge has slashed a jury's punitive damages award from $30 million to $10 million in a suit accusing Hilton of causing a hotel guest's severe spinal injuries when it knowingly failed to replace defective bathroom doors, saying the award was excessive.

  • November 04, 2024

    Monsanto Can't Keep Expert PCB Estimates From Seattle Jury

    A Washington state judge has slapped down Monsanto's bid to stop a plaintiffs' expert from sharing chemical exposure opinions with jurors in a Seattle PCB poisoning tort, saying on Monday that the company's stance that the testimony is "junk science" relies on an outdated record in a related Court of Appeals case.

  • November 04, 2024

    Lemon Law Doesn't Cover Used Cars, Calif. Justices Say

    The California Supreme Court has overturned nearly 30 years of precedent and held that the state's lemon law does not cover used cars when the vehicle has an unexpired manufacturer's warranty, delivering a victory to automaker FCA that its attorney said would end thousands of potential lawsuits.

  • November 04, 2024

    Boeing Agrees To End Virgin Galactic Secrets, Contract Fight

    Boeing has agreed to end a breach of contract and trade secrets lawsuit it launched against Virgin Galactic stemming from a deal for a Boeing subsidiary to develop certain aircraft used to launch commercial spaceships.

  • November 04, 2024

    Apple Hid Audio Defects In 1st-Gen AirPods Pro, Users Say

    Audio defects in the first generation of Apple's AirPods Pro did not stop the company from touting the wireless earbud's superior sound quality and noise-canceling features, consumers from Pennsylvania, Texas, and Ohio alleged in a proposed false advertising class action filed Friday in California federal court.

  • November 04, 2024

    Shell Slips Negligence Claim In Pa. Nuisance Lawsuit

    Neighbors of Shell Chemical Appalachia's Western Pennsylvania ethylene cracker plant will need to be more specific about dust and pollution affecting their homes if they want to revive a negligence claim that a federal court struck from a proposed class action Monday.

  • November 04, 2024

    Exxon Keeps Win In Sand Blaster's Lung Disease Suit

    A Texas state appeals court won't overturn a summary judgment freeing Exxon Mobil Corp. from a premises liability suit from a sandblaster alleging that he developed fibrosis in his lungs while working at an Exxon facility, saying the trial court rightly excluded his experts as unreliable.

  • November 04, 2024

    Blind Man Says Mo. Dispensary Site Not ADA Compliant

    A Missouri medical marijuana dispensary has not ensured that all would-be customers can use its website, according to a new lawsuit from a visually impaired man who says that the site is not accessible to him.

  • November 04, 2024

    Judge Says She'll Likely Send Talc Ch. 11 Plan Out For Vote

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge said Monday she will likely give a pair of talc producers permission to send their Chapter 11 plans out for a creditor vote, saying she was satisfied with the changes made since last week.

  • November 04, 2024

    Class Cert. Sought In Ga. Man's 'Forever Chemicals' Suit

    A Georgia man who lives near a Mount Vernon Mills textile plant asked a federal judge on Friday to certify two classes of neighbors who want to hold the manufacturers of so-called "forever chemicals" responsible for the alleged pollution of city drinking water.

  • November 04, 2024

    MultiPlan Judge Raises Eyebrows At Attys' Biz Flight Billing

    Counsel leading multidistrict litigation over Multiplan's pricing tools quickly revised their plans Monday for attorneys who take longer flights for the case, after an Illinois federal judge questioned why certain travelers received special treatment "arguably on the class's dime."

  • November 04, 2024

    Tesla Fights Sanctions Bid Over Atty's Mediation Appearance

    Tesla Inc. has pushed back against a widow's sanctions bid over allegations a company in-house attorney appeared at a mediation in her wrongful death case despite lacking settlement authority, saying her attorneys improperly disclosed the contents of confidential mediation communications.

  • November 04, 2024

    Ford Gets New Trial In $1.7B Rollover Case In Georgia

    The Georgia Court of Appeals on Friday ordered a new trial in a record-setting $1.7 billion rollover case against Ford Motor Co., saying it was "reluctantly" vacating the jury's verdict after finding that a trial court wrongly imposed issue preclusion sanctions that "almost completely prevented Ford from presenting a defense as to liability."

  • November 04, 2024

    Supreme Court Won't Hear Apache's Mining Regs Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court will let stand a ruling that sides with a state environmental agency's decision to let a copper mining company discharge untreated wastewater into a creek that's considered sacred to an Arizona Indigenous community.

  • November 01, 2024

    Delta Rips 'Transparent' CrowdStrike Bid To Duck Liability

    Delta Air Lines on Friday pressed a Georgia federal court to throw out CrowdStrike's declaratory judgment action against it, arguing that it's merely a "transparent attempt" to avoid the airline's own state court suit blaming the cybersecurity firm for the July outage that crashed millions of computers worldwide.

  • November 01, 2024

    COVID Death Suit Not Barred By PREP Act, 11th Circ. Affirms

    A split Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower court's decision Thursday to remand to state court a lawsuit over a nursing home resident's COVID-19 death, finding preemption may cover a defendant sued for following federal public health emergency guidelines, but not when, as in the instant case, the guidelines were allegedly unheeded.

  • November 01, 2024

    Boeing Supplier Should Win Texas Probe Suit, Judge Says

    A magistrate judge on Friday recommended a Texas federal judge grant Spirit AeroSystems Inc.'s bid to permanently enjoin a Texas statute requiring businesses to immediately comply with the state's demand to examine business records, saying the statute is unconstitutional.

  • November 01, 2024

    Atty Suing Ex-Partner Asks Judges For 'Fairly Nominal' Bond

    An attorney suing his ex-CEO over the breakup of their law firm has asked a Connecticut Superior Court judge to clear up two orders from different jurists by explaining how much bond he'll be required to post, saying a "fairly nominal" bond would ensure he keeps the case on track.

  • November 01, 2024

    Construction Co. Must Face 'COVID Building' Fall Suit

    An Indiana appeals court has reinstated a suit against a construction company blaming it for causing a woman's injuries after she tripped on a brace that had been left after the construction of a temporary "COVID building" next to a hospital's emergency room, saying the woman's injuries were foreseeable.

  • November 01, 2024

    Egg Producer Milo's Sued Over Salmonella Contamination

    An egg producer was hit Thursday with a proposed class action in Wisconsin federal court over a recent recall that came after U.S. Food and Drug Administration tested and found samples that tested positive for salmonella bacteria.

  • November 01, 2024

    Enviro Groups, Tribes Sue Over Nev. Lithium Mine Approval

    Environmental and tribal groups slapped the U.S. Department of the Interior with a complaint in Nevada federal court seeking to upend the agency's authorization of the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Mine, arguing the project will drive a rare wildflower into extinction.

Expert Analysis

  • Using Primacy And Recency Effects In Opening Statements

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    By understanding and strategically employing the primacy and recency effects in opening statements, attorneys can significantly enhance their persuasive impact, ensuring that their narrative is both compelling and memorable from the outset, says Bill Kanasky at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Class Action Trend Tests Limit Of Courts' Equity Powers

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    A troubling trend has developed in federal class action litigation as some counsel and judges attempt to push injunctive relief classes under Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure beyond the traditional limits of federal courts' equitable powers, say attorneys at Jones Day.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy identifies practice tips from four recent class certification rulings involving denial of Medicare reimbursements, automobile insurance disputes, veterans' rights and automobile defects.

  • 6 Tips For Trying Cases Away From Home

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    A truly national litigation practice, by definition, often requires trying cases in jurisdictions across the country, which presents unique challenges that require methodical preparation and coordination both within the trial team and externally, say Edward Bennett and Suzanne Salgado at Williams & Connolly.

  • A Blueprint For Structuring An Effective Plaintiff Case Story

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    The number and size of nuclear verdicts continue to rise, in part because plaintiffs attorneys have become more adept at crafting compelling trial stories — and an analysis of these success stories reveals a 10-part framework for structuring an effective case narrative, says Jonathan Ross at Decision Analysis.

  • Series

    Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.

  • And Now A Word From The Panel: The MDL Map

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    An intriguing yet unpredictable facet of multidistrict litigation practice is venue selection for new MDL proceedings, and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation considers many factors when it assigns an MDL venue, says Alan Rothman at Sidley Austin.

  • Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners

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    Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

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    Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.

  • How Labeling And Testing May Help Reduce PFAS Litigation

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    As regulators take steps to reduce consumers’ exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as forever chemicals, companies can take a proactive approach to mitigating litigation risks not only by labeling their products transparently, but also by complying with testing and marketing standards, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

  • Calif. Bill, NTIA Report Illustrate Open-Model AI Safety Debate

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    The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s balanced recommendations for preventing misuse of open artificial intelligence models, contrasted with a more aggressive California bill, demonstrate an evolving regulatory debate about balancing democratic access to this powerful new technology against potential risks to the public, say Stuart Meyer and Fredrick Tsang at Fenwick.

  • 'Greenhushing': Why Some Cos. Are Keeping Quiet On ESG

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    A wave of ESG-related litigation and regulations have led some companies to retreat altogether from any public statements about their ESG goals, a trend known as "greenhushing" that was at the center of a recent D.C. court decision involving Coca-Cola, say Gonzalo Mon and Katie Rogers at Kelley Drye.

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