Product Liability

  • April 10, 2026

    Ill. Jury Adds $17M Punitive Award To Baby Formula Verdict

    Illinois jurors on Friday slapped another $17 million in punitive damages atop the $53 million they awarded the previous afternoon to four mothers who accused Abbott Laboratories of selling preterm infant formula that contributed to a serious and often fatal gut condition their babies developed.

  • April 10, 2026

    Meta Must Face Mass. AG's Instagram Addiction Suit

    Meta Platforms Inc. will have to face a suit brought by the Massachusetts attorney general claiming the company is illegally hooking kids on Instagram, the state's top court ruled Friday.

  • April 09, 2026

    Clinic Charged Patients For Faulty Mammograms, Suit Claims

    A West Virginia clinic provided "worthless" mammograms to hundreds of patients for more than two years, according to a proposed class action filed in federal court which seeks refunds and other damages in excess of $5 million.

  • April 09, 2026

    LA Cannabis Edibles Maker Settles Prop 65 Warning Suit

    A Los Angeles cannabis-infused edibles producer has agreed to pay $70,000 to end a Proposition 65 lawsuit accusing the company of deliberately hiding the state-required warning with a peel-back product label, with most of the money going to the plaintiff's lawyer.

  • April 09, 2026

    Chinese Vape-Maker Seeks Narrow Discovery In Battery Suit

    The Chinese manufacturer of Geekvape is asking to limit discovery in a lawsuit seeking to hold it liable for burns a man suffered when the battery for his vape exploded while in his pocket, arguing that what the plaintiff asked for was too broad.

  • April 09, 2026

    Drivers Say GM, Bosch Can't Ditch Chevy Cruze Fraud Claims

    Drivers told a Michigan federal judge that General Motors and Bosch cannot dodge the remaining fraud claims in long-running litigation alleging the companies deceptively marketed Chevrolet Cruze vehicles as clean vehicles when they were actually outfitted with emissions-cheating software.

  • April 09, 2026

    Judge Says Poultry Enviro Deals In 20-Year Suits Fall Short

    An Oklahoma federal judge has rejected a bid by the state and several poultry companies to enter consent decrees in their two-decade-old dispute, finding the agreements did not go far enough to address pollution of the Illinois River Watershed.

  • April 09, 2026

    Abbott Hit With $53M Verdict Over Baby Formula Harms

    A Cook County jury on Thursday awarded a total of $53 million in damages to four mothers claiming Abbott Laboratories' preterm baby formula contributed to their babies' development of a serious and often fatal gut condition, in the first of such claims to go to trial in Illinois.

  • April 09, 2026

    Trade Secrets Suit Is A 'Far-Flung Conspiracy,' Law Firm Says

    A Georgia law firm wants a Nevada federal court to throw out a lawsuit accusing it of stealing trade secrets from litigation lead generator Archetype Capital Partners, calling the whole case "a far-flung conspiracy."

  • April 09, 2026

    Merck Beats 295 Zostavax Suits Over Missed Deadlines

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has tossed 295 cases against Merck & Co. Inc. in the multidistrict litigation alleging its Zostavax shingles vaccine caused the disease, with the court reasoning that the plaintiffs' inactivity doomed the cases.

  • April 09, 2026

    McKinsey Settles Liability For $125M In Purdue Ch. 11

    Consulting firm McKinsey & Co. has agreed to pay $125 million to former client Purdue Pharma LP to settle potential claims related to its work advising Purdue on the sale and marketing of opioids, tying up another loose end in the nearly seven-year-old Chapter 11 case.

  • April 09, 2026

    Philip Morris, RJR Keep Win In Widower's Death Suit

    A Massachusetts appeals panel Thursday refused to reinstate a suit from a widower against Philip Morris USA Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. over the death of his wife from COPD, saying he hadn't properly preserved his arguments for tolling the statute of limitations.

  • April 09, 2026

    Walmart Sued Over 'Plant-Based' Milk With Additives

    Walmart misrepresents its Bettergoods line of almond, oat and soy milks as "Plant-Based," even though the labeling shows inorganic and synthetic ingredients such as vitamin A palmitate, which "naturally occurs in liver, fish and dairy products ... not plants," a class action by consumers says.

  • April 09, 2026

    Pest Co. Can't Eradicate Workers' Suit Over Tobacco Fees

    Pest control company Rentokil can't escape a proposed class action alleging it unlawfully charged tobacco users more for health benefits without providing a reasonable way to avoid the fee, with a Pennsylvania federal judge rejecting the company's argument that decade-old regulations were invalid.

  • April 09, 2026

    Neb. Utility Allowed To Join Power Line Project Approval Fight

    A Colorado federal judge has allowed Nebraska's largest electric utility to back the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in litigation seeking to undo the agency's fast-track approval of the utility's 226-mile high-voltage transmission project.

  • April 09, 2026

    Rider Blasts Uber Bid To Admit Atty Ads In NC Bellwether Trial

    Uber should not be allowed to introduce evidence that a rider in North Carolina saw attorney advertisements before she sued the ride-hailing giant claiming she was sexually harassed by her driver, the passenger said, arguing it has "no relevance to any issue" in her upcoming trial.

  • April 09, 2026

    W.Va. Town Says Waste Co. Leaked PFAS Into Water Supply

    The city of Weirton, West Virginia, and its water utility are suing Arcwood Environmental affiliates in Ohio federal court, saying Arcwood has been incinerating waste containing forever chemicals, which have made their way into the city's water supply via the Ohio River.

  • April 08, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Questions Specificity Needed In Oxy IP Invalidation

    A Federal Circuit panel expressed frustration with attorneys from both Purdue Pharma LP and generic-drug maker Accord Healthcare Inc. Wednesday as it tried to navigate whether the Delaware district court order invalidating Purdue's abuse-deterrence patent was explicit enough.

  • April 08, 2026

    NY Panel Skeptical Of TikTok Bid To Ax AG's Addiction Suit

    A five-judge appellate panel Wednesday voiced doubts about TikTok's bid to dismiss the New York attorney general's claims that the social media platform is an addictive product that targets and harms children, pushing back on the company's free speech defense.

  • April 08, 2026

    Volkswagen Doubted In Bid To Defeat Seat Heater Burns Case

    A Washington federal judge hinted on Wednesday that a jury will probably need to weigh in on an Evergreen State resident's product liability claims against Volkswagen over second-degree burns allegedly caused by a vehicle seat heater, saying there's evidence that the subject heater reached "potentially unsafe" temperatures.

  • April 08, 2026

    Roblox, Fortnite Hook Kids On Gaming, Mom's Suit Claims

    An Alabama mother on Tuesday sued Roblox and Fortnite developer Epic Games in California federal court alleging that they design their platforms and games to be addictive with random reward tactics, especially for minors, and that her young son has become hooked on gaming to his detriment.

  • April 08, 2026

    NC Vape Seller Defaults In FDA Suit Over Illegal Imports

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration scored a big win in its bid to permanently block a North Carolina vape distributor from importing and selling illicit flavored e-cigarettes from China, with a federal judge giving the government a default win.

  • April 08, 2026

    Boeing, Bell Textron Get Fatal Osprey Crash Suit Tossed

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has dismissed without prejudice a suit from the families of eight U.S. service members killed in a V-22 Osprey crash in November 2023, saying their claims against The Boeing Co., Bell Textron Inc. and Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc. have to proceed under the Death on the High Seas Act, not through state law.

  • April 08, 2026

    Fiat Chrysler Loses 'Absurd' Arb. Bid In Defect Suit At 9th Circ.

    A Ninth Circuit panel has rejected Fiat Chrysler's request to send a certified class action over allegedly defective Jeep and Dodge headrests to arbitration, finding that FCA's theory would lead to "absurd" results in which third parties with "no connection whatsoever to the underlying arbitration agreement" could force arbitration.

  • April 08, 2026

    VW Beats 'Clean Diesel' NY Shareholder Derivative Suit

    A New York state trial court has thrown out a shareholder derivative suit seeking to hold current and former Volkswagen AG supervisory board members and executives in Germany liable for perpetrating the 2015 emissions cheating scandal, saying the dispute doesn't belong in the Empire State.

Expert Analysis

  • AI Product Safety Insights May Expand Foreseeability

    Author Photo

    Product liability law has long held that companies are responsible for risks they knew about or should have known about — and with AI systems now able to assess and predict hazards during the design process, companies should expect that courts will likely treat such hazards as foreseeable, says Donald Fountain at Clark Fountain.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Educating Your Community

    Author Photo

    Nearly two decades prosecuting scammers and elder fraud taught me that proactively educating the public about the risks they face and the rights they possess is essential to building trust within our communities, empowering otherwise vulnerable citizens and preventing wrongdoers from gaining a foothold, says Roger Handberg at GrayRobinson.

  • How A 9th Circ. False Ad Ruling Could Shift Class Certification

    Author Photo

    The Ninth Circuit's July decision in Noohi v. Johnson & Johnson, holding that unexecuted damages models may suffice for purposes of class certification, has the potential to create judicial inefficiencies and crippling uncertainties for class action defendants, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • 5 Crisis Lawyering Skills For An Age Of Uncertainty

    Author Photo

    As attorneys increasingly face unprecedented and pervasive situations — from prosecutions of law enforcement officials to executive orders targeting law firms — they must develop several essential competencies of effective crisis lawyering, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.

  • Compliance Tips Amid Rising FTC Scrutiny Of Minors' Privacy

    Author Photo

    The Federal Trade Commission has recently rolled out multiple enforcement actions related to children's privacy, highlighting a renewed focus on federal regulation of minors' personal information and the evolving challenges of establishing effective, privacy-protective age assurance solutions, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Insights From Recent Cases On Navigating Snap Removal

    Author Photo

    Snap removal, which allows defendants to transfer state court cases to federal court before a forum defendant is properly joined and served, is viewed differently across federal circuits — but keys to making it work can be drawn from recent decisions critiquing the practice, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For The Judiciary To Fix Its Cybersecurity Problem

    Author Photo

    After recent reports that hackers have once again infiltrated federal courts’ electronic case management systems, the judiciary should strengthen its cybersecurity practices in line with executive branch standards, outlining clear roles and responsibilities for execution, says Ilona Cohen at HackerOne.

  • Tips For Cos. Crafting Enforceable Online Arbitration Clauses

    Author Photo

    Recent rulings from the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California indicate that courts are carefully examining the enforceability of online arbitration clauses, so businesses should review the design of their websites and consider specific language next to the "purchase" button, say attorneys at DTO Law.

  • Identifying The Sources And Impacts Of Juror Contamination

    Author Photo

    Jury contamination can be pervasive, so it is important that trial teams be able to spot its sources and take specific mitigation steps, says consultant Clint Townson.

  • Why This Popular Class Cert. Approach Doesn't Measure Up

    Author Photo

    In recent class certification decisions, plaintiffs experts have used the in-sample prediction approach to show that challenged conduct harmed all, or almost all, proposed class members — but this approach is unreliable because it fails two fundamental tests of reliable econometric methods, say consultants at Cornerstone Research.

  • Key Lessons From Youths' Suit Against Trump Energy Orders

    Author Photo

    A Montana federal court's recent decision in Lighthiser v. Trump, dismissing a challenge by a group of young plaintiffs to President Donald Trump's executive orders promoting fossil fuels, indicates that future climate litigants must anchor their suits in discrete, final agency actions and statutory text, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Series

    Writing Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Writing my debut novel taught me to appreciate the value of critique and to never give up, no matter how long or tedious the journey, providing me with valuable skills that I now emphasize in my practice, says Daniel Buzzetta at BakerHostetler.

  • SDNY OpenAI Order Clarifies Preservation Standards For AI

    Author Photo

    The Southern District of New York’s recent order in the OpenAI copyright infringement litigation, denying discovery of The New York Times' artificial intelligence technology use, clarifies that traditional preservation benchmarks apply to AI content, relieving organizations from using a “keep everything” approach, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • What 9th Circ.'s Rosenwald Ruling Means For Class Actions

    Author Photo

    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Rosenwald v. Kimberly-Clark has important implications around the Class Action Fairness Act and traditional diversity jurisdiction — both for plaintiff-side and defense-side class action litigators — and deepens the circuit split concerning the use of judicial notice to establish diversity, says Grace Schmidt at DTO Law.

  • What EPA's Continued Defense Of PFAS Rule Means For Cos.

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent decision to continue defending a Biden-era rule designating two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances as Superfund hazards may provide the EPA with significant authority over national PFAS cleanup policy — and spur further litigation by both government and private parties, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Product Liability archive.