Product Liability

  • January 10, 2025

    Social Media Apps Fail To Trim Calif. Mental Health Mass Tort

    Meta Platforms, YouTube, Snap and TikTok have lost a bid to cut failure-to-warn claims from consolidated litigation over their social media platforms' alleged harm to youth mental health, with a California state judge ruling that neither the Communications Decency Act nor the First Amendment bar liability based on an app's own features.

  • January 10, 2025

    Contractor Seeks Coverage For $2.5M Grass Damage Row

    An air services company told a New York federal court Friday that an AIG unit cited a raft of inapplicable exclusions to deny commercial general liability coverage over claims that it caused nearly $2.5 million in damages by aerially applying herbicides on the wrong areas.

  • January 10, 2025

    FDA Tells Justices RJ Reynolds Challenge Belongs In DC Circ.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to send a suit by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. and two retailers challenging the denial of a marketing application from the Fifth Circuit to the D.C. Circuit, saying federal law doesn't allow a manufacturer to forum shop by bringing a retailer into its challenge.

  • January 10, 2025

    Ga. Solar Farm Damages Fight Settles Ahead Of April Trial

    A Georgia couple has reached a settlement with the owners and developers of a neighboring solar farm and their contractor just two months after a judge ordered that a second trial was needed to determine damages in the multimillion-dollar case.

  • January 10, 2025

    The Firefighting Foam 'Forever Chemicals' MDL: A Snapshot

    A round of big settlements was recently completed seven years into a sprawling multidistrict litigation over chemical companies' liability for alleged harms caused by exposure to so-called forever chemicals in firefighting foam. Here, Law360 examines what’s still at stake in the ongoing litigation.

  • January 10, 2025

    FDA Issues Infant Formula Safety Strategy

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday sent out a strategy to boost the resiliency of the country's infant formula market in the wake of a 2022 recall and the aftermath of a shortage of baby formula.

  • January 10, 2025

    J&J Talc Claimants Seek Sanctions Over Morelli No-Show

    A group of attorneys representing talc claimants in Johnson & Johnson unit Red River Talc's Chapter 11 case has urged a Texas bankruptcy judge to sanction Morelli Law Firm PLLC's founding partner, Benedict Morelli, for allegedly failing to appear in person at a December hearing and falsely claiming to have resolved a dispute with the talc group.

  • January 10, 2025

    Ex-McKinsey Partner Admits To Obstructing Purdue Probe

    A former senior partner at consulting giant McKinsey & Co. pled guilty Friday to obstructing the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation into the firm's work with opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma LP, a month after McKinsey agreed to pay $650 million to resolve related charges.

  • January 09, 2025

    Texas Hits TikTok With Another Suit Over Child-Online Safety

    Texas hit TikTok with another lawsuit in the Lone Star State court following similar consumer protection suits, accusing the social media giant — which is facing a ban in the U.S. — of deceptively marketing its purportedly addictive app as safe for minors despite letting explicit material run rampant on the platform.

  • January 09, 2025

    Kroger Accused By Calif. AG Of Ignoring Opioid 'Red Flags'

    California's attorney general has accused The Kroger Co. of ignoring "red flags" of opioid misuse, alleging in a lawsuit lodged in a Los Angeles state court that the supermarket giant dispensed opioids without first questioning the legitimacy of prescriptions.

  • January 09, 2025

    J&J Spin-Off Says Talc Committee Can't Hire Brown Rudnick

    Johnson & Johnson's bankrupt spin-off called Brown Rudnick's bid to represent an official committee of talc claimants "an ethical violation," telling a Texas bankruptcy judge that the law firm's previous work for a group trying to toss the case clashes with the committee's support for its Chapter 11 plan.

  • January 09, 2025

    Ark. Cites 4th Circ. Ruling In Dispute Over Hemp THC Limit

    Arkansas is pointing the Eighth Circuit's judges toward an opinion earlier this week from their colleagues in the Fourth Circuit, saying they should consider it as they mull whether to allow the state's regulations on intoxicating hemp products to stand.

  • January 09, 2025

    Stem Cell Therapy Co. Hit With $5.1M Deceptive Ad Judgment

    A Georgia federal judge has ordered a stem cell therapy company and its co-founders to pay the state $5.1 million for falsely marketing its product as a cure-all miracle treatment for a slew of different medical conditions.

  • January 09, 2025

    Plane Crash Victims Tell NC Panel To Toss Engine Co. Appeal

    The estates of four plane crash victims have asked the North Carolina state appeals court to throw out what they characterize as a last-ditch effort by defense giant Avco Corp. and its subsidiary Lycoming Engines to avoid going to trial, saying the appeal is two years too late.

  • January 09, 2025

    SharkNinja Customer Sues For $3.75M After Blender Explodes

    A woman who was nearly blinded when her Ninja brand blender "exploded" claimed SharkNinja's design of the appliance was defective in a complaint transferred to Michigan federal court this week.

  • January 09, 2025

    Embryo Loss Suits Against CooperSurgical Mount In Conn.

    CooperSurgical Inc. now faces four lawsuits in Connecticut that allege a defective product caused the loss of embryos conceived through in vitro fertilization, after a Georgia couple added their case to a growing pile of litigation.

  • January 08, 2025

    Consumers Get Class Cert. In Suit Over Law Firm's Robocalls

    A West Virginia federal judge has granted class status to consumers who are accusing a plaintiffs' firm of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by blasting them with unsolicited calls seeking their participation in litigation against the federal government over contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

  • January 08, 2025

    Fiat Chrysler Hit With Jeep Hood Fire Defect Class Action

    Automaker FCA US LLC, part of Stellantis NV, on Tuesday was hit with a proposed class action in Michigan federal court over allegations that certain Jeep vehicles made between 2021 and 2023 were prone to catching on fire, causing serious, even "catastrophic" damages.

  • January 08, 2025

    ATF Says Loophole Rule Passes 2nd Amendment Smell Test

    The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has doubled down in its bid to uphold a new rule in a case over the so-called gun-show loophole rule, saying in a Texas federal court that a group of red states hadn't shown how the rule lacks founding-era precedent.

  • January 08, 2025

    Ford Can't Escape Texas Cop's Carbon Monoxide Injury Suit

    Ford Motor Co. can't get out of a suit by a Universal City, Texas, police officer who alleges he suffered carbon monoxide poisoning while idling in a Ford vehicle, because a Texas federal judge says the officer's expert and evidence support his claims that a vehicle defect is responsible for his injuries.

  • January 08, 2025

    Audi Electric SUVs Are 'Ticking Time Bombs,' Suit Claims

    Audi of America LLC and Volkswagen Group of America Inc. were hit with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court alleging certain Audi electric SUVs are "ticking time bombs" that can lose power, short-circuit and catch fire.

  • January 08, 2025

    Insurer To Fight Limits In Smucker's Salmonella Coverage Suit

    An insurer seeking a bigger contribution from its insured J.M. Smucker Co. may appeal a court ruling that found there was just one occurrence within underlying litigation against the food company over 225 batches of salmonella-tainted Jif peanut butter, an Ohio federal judge said Wednesday.

  • January 08, 2025

    Ariz. Tribe Sues Social Media Giants Over Youth Mental Health

    An Apache tribe has hit all the social media giants with a suit in California federal court claiming the companies' platforms are designed to addict young people but have a particularly bad effect on Native American youth, who already face a high risk of depression, addiction and suicide.

  • January 08, 2025

    Calif. Tribe Has Standing To Block Casino Project, Court Told

    A California tribe says it has constitutional standing to block the Interior Department from taking land into trust for a proposed casino project on its historic homelands, arguing that it suffered actual and concrete harm when the agency determined that no historic resources would be affected by the endeavor.

  • January 08, 2025

    EPA, Navajo To Remove 65 Acres Of Waste From Reservation

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Navajo Nation have finalized a plan to provide a complete cleanup of one of the largest and most high-risk uranium mine sites on the tribe's reservation, the federal agency said.

Expert Analysis

  • Defense Strategies For Addressing Conspiracy-Minded Jurors

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    As conspiracy theories continue to proliferate and gain traction in the U.S., defense attorneys will need to consider ways to keep conspiracy-minded jurors from sitting on the jury, and to persuade them when this isn’t possible, say consultants at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • 7 Ways 2nd Trump Administration May Affect Partner Hiring

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    President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House will likely have a number of downstream effects on partner hiring in the legal industry, from accelerated hiring timelines to increased vetting of prospective employees, say recruiters at Macrae.

  • Trump, Tariffs And Tech: The Right To Repair In 2025

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    The "right-to-repair" movement has helped make it easier for independent repair shops and consumers to repair their devices and vehicles — but President-elect Donald Trump's complicated relationship with Big Tech, and his advocacy for increased tariffs, make the immediate future of the movement uncertain, say attorneys at Carter Ledyard.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Custodian Selection

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    Several recent rulings make clear that the proportionality of additional proposed custodians will depend on whether the custodians have unique relevant documents, and producing parties should consider whether information already in the record will show that they have relevant documents that otherwise might not be produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Opinion

    Section 230 Debates Will Continue, With Or Without TikTok

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    Regardless of whether TikTok is forced to shut down in the U.S. in the coming weeks, legal disputes will continue over social media platforms' responsibility under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for harms allegedly caused by content shared on their apps, says Carla Varriale-Barker at Segal McCambridge.

  • When Judging Product Label Claims, Follow The Asterisk

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    A recurring question in false advertising class actions is whether misleading or ambiguous statements on a product's front label can be cured by information on the back label — but recent decisions from the Ninth Circuit suggest that a front-label asterisk can help alert consumers to seek further clarification, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • Complying With Seasonal Product Labeling Requirements

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    Though the holiday season is in the rearview, many seasonal alcohol products remain in the market, and producers should ensure that their labels comply with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau's additional requirements for such products, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • How Trial Attys Can Wield Amended Federal Evidence Rules

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    Trial lawyers should assess recent amendments to four Federal Rules of Evidence and a newly enacted rule on illustrative aids to determine how to best use the rules to enhance pretrial discovery and trial strategy, says Stewart Edelstein, former litigation chair at Cohen & Wolf.

  • Series

    Exercising On My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While I originally came to the Peloton bike for exercise, one cycling instructor’s teachings have come to serve as a road map for practicing law thoughtfully and mindfully, which has opened opportunities for growth and change in my career, says Andrea Kirshenbaum at Littler.

  • 5 Drug And Device Developments That Shaped 2024

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    The last year saw significant legal developments affecting drug and device manufacturers, with landmark decisions and regulatory changes that require vigilance and agility from the industry, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • Opinion

    Aviation Watch: How Court Nixed Boeing Plea Deal Over DEI

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    A Texas federal court's rejection of the plea agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Boeing over the 737 Max aircraft gratuitously injected the court's views on diversity, equity and inclusion into a case that shouldn't have been a criminal matter in the first place, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.

  • Top 10 Legal Issues This Year For Transportation Industry GCs

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    General counsel must carefully consider numerous legal and policy challenges facing the automotive and transportation industry in the year to come, especially while navigating new technologies, regulations and global markets, says Francesco Liberatore at Squire Patton.

  • Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

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    Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Consultants Should Be Aware Of DOJ's Potential New Reach

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent first-of-its-kind settlement with McKinsey & Co. indicates not only the DOJ's more aggressive stance toward businesses' potential criminal wrongdoings, but also the benefits of self-disclosure and cooperation when wrongdoing becomes apparent, says Dom Caamano at Kibler Fowler.

  • Product Safety Issues In 2024 Highlight Need For Vigilance

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    A look at some of the medications and foods that led to significant class actions last year demonstrates the need for robust regulatory systems and proactive measures to protect consumers from defective and harmful products, says Jennifer Taylor at the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin.

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