Product Liability

  • June 18, 2024

    Chastened Boeing CEO Vows Fixes In Harsh Senate Hearing

    Boeing's chief steadfastly defended the company's commitment to safety, even as he acknowledged a breakdown in how certain managers responded to whistleblowers who had flagged past questionable design or manufacturing practices, as he endured a grueling public hearing before a Senate panel Tuesday.

  • June 18, 2024

    Proposed Hemp Change In Line With Regs, Report Says

    A controversial proposed change to the statutory definition of hemp in the next Farm Bill would be broadly aligned with existing federal regulatory practices, according to a new report from Capitol Hill's policy research arm.

  • June 18, 2024

    Insurer Countersues In Penile Implant Coverage Dispute

    An insurer has no duty to defend or indemnify a urologist, his medical device company or his practice in a proposed class action over a penile enlargement implant and procedure, the company told a California federal court, saying the underlying suit doesn't seek bodily injury damages that would trigger coverage.

  • June 18, 2024

    Rival Pool Supply Co. Looks To Duck Blueworks Ch. 11 Stay

    Pool supply company Hayward Industries Inc. has asked a bankruptcy court for a reprieve from the automatic stay protecting its bankrupt rival Blueworks Corp. as it seeks to secure final orders upholding a $16 million false advertising and unfair business practices judgment.

  • June 18, 2024

    COVID Test Maker Can't Shake All Of $30M Faulty Kit Suit

    A New Jersey federal judge won't let California-based laboratory equipment maker Atila Biosystems Inc. out of a suit alleging it sold faulty COVID-19 testing kits, saying Fusion Diagnostic Laboratories LLC has adequately pled a breach of contract claim.

  • June 18, 2024

    Cozen O'Connor Names Ex-Arkansas AG As State AG Co-Lead

    Philadelphia-based Cozen O'Connor announced on Tuesday the hiring of a former Arkansas attorney general to help lead the firm's state attorneys general group from its office in Little Rock.

  • June 18, 2024

    Ford Says Sanctions Violated Due Process In $1.7B Case

    Attorneys for Ford Motor Co. urged the Georgia Court of Appeals on Tuesday either to order a new trial or substantially reduce a record-setting $1.7 billion punitive damages verdict returned against the automaker in litigation over a fatal rollover, arguing the award resulted from "death penalty sanctions" that essentially directed a verdict against it.

  • June 18, 2024

    FTC Escalates Probe Into TikTok's Privacy Measures For Kids

    The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday took the rare step of publicly disclosing its referral to the U.S. Department of Justice of a complaint against TikTok and its parent company over their compliance with a 2019 privacy settlement, saying there's "reason to believe" that the companies are out of step with their pledge to protect children on the platform.

  • June 18, 2024

    J&J Fights Law Firm's Bid To Nix Subpoenas In Talc Brawl

    Information about the Beasley Allen Law Firm's litigation funding and settlement communications is relevant and necessary to resolving long-running multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder products and so should be turned over, the pharmaceutical giant has told a New Jersey federal court.

  • June 18, 2024

    Restitution Plan For Lead-Test Defects Leaves Judge Uneasy

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday questioned the legality of a plan to have a claims administrator, rather than the court, oversee victim compensation in a criminal case alleging Magellan Diagnostics hid information about inaccurate results in its lead-testing devices.

  • June 18, 2024

    Insurers Must Keep Defending Heating Oil Co. In Class Suit

    Two Crum & Forster units must continue defending a heating oil company and several executives in a class action claiming the company provided oil with elevated levels of biodiesel that caused property damage, a Massachusetts federal court ruled, saying the policies' "failure to supply" provisions do not limit or exclude coverage.

  • June 17, 2024

    Excess Insurers May Need To Pay In Kaiser Asbestos Dispute

    A policyholder can tap into first-layer excess policies as soon as the primary coverage for that period is exhausted, the California Supreme Court ruled, potentially implicating several first-level excess insurers to contribute to coverage for underlying asbestos exposure claims against Kaiser Cement and Gypsum Corp.

  • June 17, 2024

    US Surgeon General To Seek Warning Label On Social Media

    U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy has called on lawmakers to require social media companies to put warnings on their sites that say young people who use them have more mental health issues, according to an opinion article published on Monday.

  • June 17, 2024

    Exxon Investor Deal Ends Suit Over Emissions Proposal

    Activist investor Arjuna Capital has escaped Exxon Mobil Corp.'s lawsuit over a contentious greenhouse gas-related shareholder proposal the investor sought to include in the company's 2024 proxy statement after a Texas federal judge on Monday accepted the investor's promises not to resubmit the proposal.

  • June 17, 2024

    Chrysler MDL Class Can Fix 'Puzzling' State Claim Skip

    A Michigan federal judge has said he will give a class of drivers alleging Chrysler minivans have a defect that causes their batteries to explode unexpectedly an opportunity to fix their "puzzling" choice not to plead state-by-state claims in the first master complaint of the sprawling multidistrict litigation.

  • June 17, 2024

    Zantac Suits Must Exit State Court, Conn. Judge Told

    A Connecticut state court judge must relinquish jurisdiction over two lawsuits claiming that generic versions of the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer because state statutes do not subject entities with foreign business registrations to the auspices of Constitution State judges, a pharmaceutical industry attorney argued at a hearing Monday morning.

  • June 17, 2024

    Boeing, Virgin Can't Agree To Injunction's Scope In IP Row

    Boeing and Virgin Galactic have clashed over whether Virgin can share information with outside contractors gleaned as part of a failed aircraft development contract, as Boeing's suit accusing Virgin of breaching the deal and misappropriating trade secrets moves forward in Virginia federal court.

  • June 17, 2024

    Ga. Panel OKs Instruction In $4.5M Spinal Device Injury Suit

    The Georgia Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court's decision to tell jurors not to consider the availability of insurance benefits when considering the issues of liability and damages in a case in which a woman whose doctor incorrectly implanted a spinal cord stimulator was awarded $4.5 million.

  • June 17, 2024

    Talc Claimants Want Documents In Fight Over J&J Unit Venue

    Cancer patients with talc damage claims against Johnson & Johnson have urged a New Jersey federal court to give them access to transcripts and exhibits from depositions of top executives at the company's talc unit, saying the information will aid their effort to bar the J&J spinoff from filing a third Chapter 11 outside the Garden State.

  • June 17, 2024

    Justices Won't Hear Challenge To NY Gun, Ammo Sales Laws

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition by New York gun shop owners seeking to appeal a decision striking down their suit challenging state laws regulating firearm sellers and ammunition sales.

  • June 14, 2024

    Meta Halts AI Tech Debut In EU After Regulatory Backlash

    Meta Platforms Inc. said Friday that it was putting on hold plans to expand its artificial intelligence offerings to the European market after the Irish privacy regulator raised concerns about the company's efforts to use public content posted on Facebook and Instagram to fuel these models.

  • June 14, 2024

    Blistering Dissents Belie Justices' Penchant For Consensus

    Thirteen days into June, the U.S. Supreme Court had recorded one of the highest rates of unanimous decisions in the past four decades. But the era of historic consensus was tarnished a bit Friday when the court issued three split decisions and two scathing dissents highlighting how much the nine justices differ.

  • June 14, 2024

    Janssen Hit With $150M Verdict In HIV Drug False Claims Suit

    A New Jersey federal jury hit Janssen with a $150 million False Claims Act verdict in a 12-year-old whistleblower suit, finding that the drugmaker violated the federal law as well as 27 related state FCA statutes by illegally profiting from the off-label marketing of two popular Janssen HIV medications.

  • June 14, 2024

    Monsanto Says Wash. Ruling Axes $275M PCB Verdict

    Monsanto has asked a Washington state appeals court to reverse a $275 million verdict against it in a suit over polychlorinated biphenyls exposure at a school site, saying a recent reversal of a $185 million verdict by the court in another case greatly bolsters its argument for another reversal.

  • June 14, 2024

    Feds, Tribes Say Mill Owners Liable For 150 Years Of Pollution

    The federal government, the state of Washington and a slew of tribes are suing the owners of a shuttered sawmill and a property group that now oversee the sawmill area's development, alleging that for more than a century, hazardous substances from the operation released into Port Gamble Bay and have harmed its natural resources.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Time To Ban Deferred Prosecution For Fatal Corporate Crime

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    As illustrated by prosecutors’ deals with Boeing and other companies, deferred prosecution agreements have strayed far from their original purpose, and Congress must ban the use of this tool in cases where corporate misconduct has led to fatalities, says Peter Reilly at Texas A&M University School of Law.

  • Why Hemp-Synthesized Intoxicants Need Uniform Regs

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    State laws regulating hemp-synthesized intoxicants are a patchwork with little consistency between any given state, and without the adoption of a uniform regulatory framework, producers and consumers alike will need to be very cautious, say Dylan Anderson and Seth Goldberg at Duane Morris.

  • Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence

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    Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Analyzing The Legal Ripples Of The EPA's PFAS Regulation

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    As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency makes major moves on its pledge to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the developing body of PFAS regulation will lead to an increase in litigation, and personal injury and product liability claims, say attorneys at Gordon & Rees.

  • Boeing Opinion Strikes Blow Against Overpayment Theory

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    The Fifth Circuit's decision in Earl v. Boeing Co. casts doubt on consumers' standing to bring claims of overpayment for products later revealed to have defects — and suggests that it's more likely that those products would have been removed from the market, driving up the price of alternatives, say attorneys at Bush Seyferth.

  • Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes

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    Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.

  • Opinion

    Test Results Signal Poor Odds For Lead Cables Litigation

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    After sites in New York and New Jersey allegedly contaminated with lead by telecommunications cables were found by state and federal agencies to present no imminent threats to public health, it seems unlikely that mass litigation over this issue by plaintiffs firms or state attorneys general will succeed, says Andrew Ketterer at Ketterer & Ketterer.

  • Ga. Ruling A Win For Plaintiffs Injured By Older Products

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    The Georgia Supreme Court's recent opinion in Ford Motor Co. v. Cosper gives plaintiffs the assurance that even if they are injured by older products, they can still bring claims under state law if the manufacturer used a design that it knew, or should have known, created a risk of substantial harm, says Rob Snyder at Cannella Snyder.

  • Class Action Defense: Don't Give Up On Bristol-Myers Squibb

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    Federal appellate court decisions in the six years since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Bristol-Myers Squibb show that it's anyone's ballgame in class action jurisdictional arguments, so defendants are encouraged to consider carefully whether, where and when arguing lack of specific personal jurisdiction may be advantageous, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Pro Bono Work Is Powerful Self-Help For Attorneys

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    Oct. 22-28 is Pro Bono Week, serving as a useful reminder that offering free legal help to the public can help attorneys expand their legal toolbox, forge community relationships and create human connections, despite the challenges of this kind of work, says Orlando Lopez at Culhane Meadows.

  • Series

    Playing In A Rock Cover Band Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing in a classic rock cover band has driven me to hone several skills — including focus, organization and networking — that have benefited my professional development, demonstrating that taking time to follow your muse outside of work can be a boon to your career, says Michael Gambro at Cadwalader.

  • How To Advertise Carbon Reductions Under New Calif. Law

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    As more companies advertise their efforts to reach the status of carbon neutral or net zero, California's recently enacted Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act aims to force companies to more clearly disclose the basis for such claims — and there's not a lot of time to comply, say Gonzalo Mon and Katie Rogers at Kelley Drye.

  • Series

    The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'

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    The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.

  • Calif. Right To Repair Law Highlights A Growing Movement

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    New legislation in California is a comprehensive victory for the "right to repair" movement — signaling that this push for legal reform represents a multifaceted challenge to the status quo not only on the consumer rights front, but also in the fields of copyright, software, antitrust and warranty law, says Courtney Sarnow at Culhane Meadows.

  • Teach Your Witness About 'Good' And 'Bad' Testimony Words

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    To ensure honest and accurate testimony in trials and depositions, attorneys must take care to educate their witnesses about the problematic words opposing counsel may use, such as “always” and “must,” and the effective words they can use in response, like “potentially” and “depends,” say Steve Wood and Bill Kanasky at Courtroom Sciences.

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