Mealey's Personal Injury
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February 06, 2025
Helicopter Engine Maker Not Liable For Fatal Crash Involving Repaired Carburetor
MT. HOLLY, N.J. — Concluding that a helicopter engine manufacturer had not been involved in the repair of a carburetor during which allegedly defective parts were installed, a New Jersey judge granted the manufacturer’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by the survivor of a helicopter crash victim who alleged that the helicopter’s carburetor caused a malfunction that resulted in the crash.
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February 06, 2025
‘Racial Targeting’ Argument Tainted $34 Million Verdict, Tobacco Company Says
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A tobacco company argues in an appellant brief filed in a Florida appellate court that a jury’s $34 million verdict against it for the death of a 38-year-old smoker with cancer that allegedly caused a brain hemorrhage should be reversed in part because the smoker’s estate made improper, inflammatory arguments that the company “‘targeted’ black males” with its marketing.
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February 05, 2025
Reinsurer Wins Dismissal Of $844M Suit To Enforce Consent Judgments
MIAMI — A reinsurer won dismissal with prejudice of a case that sought to enforce approximately $844 million in consent judgments entered against an airline in connection with a 2016 plane crash, with a Florida judge ruling in part that “Florida law narrowly restricts the circumstances in which an insured can ever directly pursue claims against a reinsurer to facts that are not alleged here.”
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January 31, 2025
11th Circuit Grants Joint Motion To Dismiss Appeals In Traffic Stop Death Case
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a joint motion to dismiss with prejudice the cross-appeals of a deceased motorist and the motorist’s injured passenger and a city and city police officer seeking review of several Alabama federal court rulings in a case involving a traffic stop and chase that culminated in a crash and shooting of the motorist and passenger by the officer.
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January 29, 2025
Tobacco Company, Retailer Settle Wrongful Death Suit Brought By Widower
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A tobacco company, retailer and the widower of a dead smoker settled a wrongful death suit brought in Massachusetts state court by the widower the day after openings in the trial were held regarding the widower’s claims that they are liable for his wife’s death from lung cancer at age 59 after she got hooked on smoking when she was given free samples of cigarettes as a 14-year-old.
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January 29, 2025
Judge: Discretionary Function Exception Does Not Apply To Flint Tort Claims Case
DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan on Jan. 28 denied the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss the Flint water crisis Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit pursuant to the discretionary function exception (DFE), ruling that the DFE is inapplicable to the “actions and inactions” of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in response to the Flint water crisis. The judge’s ruling addressed only the applicability of the DFE to the lawsuit.
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January 28, 2025
Ohio Village, Norfolk Southern Settle Train Derailment Claims For $22 Million
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The village of East Palestine, Ohio, and Norfolk Southern Corp. on Jan. 27 jointly announced a $22 million settlement to resolve all claims brought by the village arising from the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in 2023 that released toxic chemicals into the environment, according to a news release posted on the village’s website. Litigation involving other parties in the train derailment remain active.
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January 28, 2025
Mass. Justice Trebles Damages, Enters $105M Judgment For Smoker’s Cancer Death
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts state court justice entered judgment worth roughly $105 million in favor of the widower of a smoker who got hooked on cigarettes after being handed a free sample at age 12 and died from lung cancer at age 59, after adding attorney fees and interest to the jury’s $10.6 million verdict, then adding additional trebled damages due to the tobacco company’s “unfair and deceptive trade practices.”
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January 28, 2025
Character.AI Defendants: Speech Concerns, Other Defects Doom Negligence Suit
ORLANDO, Fla. — The company behind Character.AI and various related parties urged a federal judge in Florida to dismiss a suit claiming its artificial intelligence led to a teen’s suicide, saying free speech, product liability law and jurisdictional issues all doom the action.
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January 27, 2025
Experts Featured In Mealey's Daubert Report
Entries are ordered in alphabetical order of the expert in each area of expert testimony. Experts appeared in the January to December 2024 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.
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January 27, 2025
No Error In Excluding Experts, Dismissing Claim In Suit Against Driver, Employer
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said a district court did not abuse its discretion in barring experts from testifying on the timing of inclement weather that a tractor-trailer driver encountered before a crash or in excluding expert testimony on whether the driver was acting within the standard of care.
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January 24, 2025
New Jersey State Officials Have Qualified Immunity For Orders Addressing COVID-19
CAMDEN, N.J. — Concluding that that they were entitled to qualified immunity in their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to nursing homes, a New Jersey federal court granted a motion to dismiss by New Jersey’s governor and public health commissioner in a lawsuit by survivors of former nursing home residents who died from COVID-19.
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January 24, 2025
SharkNinja Wins Final Judgment In Faulty Blender Case After Judge Excluded Expert
INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana federal judge entered final judgment in favor of SharkNinja Operating LLC after finding that an expert retained by a woman who alleges that she was injured by a defective blender was excluded from testifying and the judge granted its motion for summary judgment.
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January 24, 2025
Judge Nixes Company’s Bid To End Fracking Case, Says Material Questions Exist
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied an oil company’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit alleging it is liable for an injury sustained by a worker at a hydraulic fracturing well pad, ruling that “the self-serving evidence submitted by the parties is insufficient to show that there are no questions of material fact” in the case.
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January 24, 2025
J&J, Man Awarded $15M By Connecticut Jury Debate Punitive Damages, Experts
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — In a quartet of briefs filed in a Connecticut court, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) entities and a mesothelioma sufferer who was awarded $15 million briefed the size of the award, what amount the court should award as punitive damages and whether the court properly admitted experts and instructed the jury.
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January 16, 2025
Heart Pump Maker Says Wrongful Death Case Cannot Survive Preemption Argument
ST. LOUIS — A husband and daughter failed to allege how a surgically implanted heart pump was defectively designed or how that alleged defect caused a woman’s death, the manufacturer of the device argues in a reply brief to its motion for judgment on the pleadings, urging the Missouri federal court to find that the claims are preempted by federal law.
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January 15, 2025
Seattle Jury Awards $100M To 4 Plaintiffs In School PCB Case Against Monsanto
SEATTLE — A jury in Washington state on Jan. 14 awarded four plaintiffs a total of $100 million in compensatory and punitive damages against Monsanto Co. in a trial over injuries allegedly caused by exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a Seattle-area school. The plaintiffs had sought $4.14 billion in punitive damages.
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January 14, 2025
High Court Declines To Review Denial Of Qualified Immunity In Prison COVID-19 Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 denied the petition for writ of certiorari of prison officials seeking review of a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision reversing a Michigan federal court’s dismissal of a prisoner’s civil rights complaint against the officials stemming from their management of the prison in response to COVID-19.
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January 14, 2025
Mother Seeks $1.5M For Daughter’s Legionella Death Tied To Flint Water Crisis
DETROIT — The mother of a deceased woman has moved for approval of a $1.5 million settlement for the daughter’s wrongful death from Legionella exposure at a Flint, Mich., hospital that occurred in the wake of the lead-contaminated water crisis in that city.
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January 14, 2025
Pennsylvania Judge Molds Verdict, Handing J&J Win In Asbestos-Talc Case
PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania judge molded an inconsistent verdict in favor of Johnson & Johnson, wrapping a more-than-monthlong trial that included a break for the holiday season by handing the company and various of its entities a defense verdict in the asbestos-talc case.
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January 13, 2025
Tenn. Federal Judge Allows Expert Witness Testimony In Medical Malpractice Case
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal judge denied dueling motions to exclude the other party’s causation and standard of care expert witnesses in a medical malpractice case after finding that all four experts meet admissibility standards under state and federal law.
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January 10, 2025
Statute Of Limitations Bars New Jersey University COVID-19 Quarantine Death Lawsuit
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge dismissed without prejudice a lawsuit brought by the estate and parents of a college sophomore who died while in COVID-19 isolation during the school year after contracting the disease, ruling that the statute of limitations had run on wrongful death and negligence claims and that contract and fraud claims were deficient.
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January 06, 2025
Ohio High Court Remands Discovery Privilege Dispute In Medical Malpractice Suit
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Chiding a trial court for “erroneously limit[ing] its own power to control the discovery process,” the Ohio Supreme Court remanded a disagreement over whether a treating physician’s residency file is protected by the peer-review privilege, instructing the trial court to use in camera review, among other inquiries, in determining whether the privilege applies.
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January 03, 2025
11th Circuit Denies Rehearing In Remanded Assisted Living COVID Wrongful Death Case
ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has denied an assisted living facility’s petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc of a split panel decision affirming a judgment of a Florida federal court remanding to state court a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the personal representatives of a woman who died from COVID-19 while under the care of the facility.
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December 23, 2024
Florida Federal Judge Allows 5 Rebuttal Experts In Toxic Exposure Case
ORLANDO, Fla. — “Disagreement with an expert’s premises is classic cross-examination fodder” and not grounds for exclusion under Federal Rule of Evidence 702, a federal judge in Florida noted in an order denying five motions to exclude filed in an environmental contamination case.