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Mealey's Personal Injury

October 22, 2024
Split Illinois High Court Affirms Judgment In Row Over Care Homes’ COVID Immunity

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A split Illinois Supreme Court affirmed an appellate court’s decision answering in the affirmative a question certified to it from a lower court after modifying it to ask whether a specific executive order issued by the Illinois governor grants “immunity for ordinary negligence claims to healthcare facilities that rendered assistance to the State during the COVID-19 pandemic,” finding that “the appellate court appropriately reframed the certified question to clarify that immunity applies only to ordinary negligence claims.”
October 22, 2024
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 May, June, July, August, September and October 2024 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.
October 22, 2024
Injured Passenger, Cruise Line Reach Tentative Settlement In Jet Ski Accident

MIAMI — After a cruise line and a passenger injured while riding a jet ski supplied by the cruise line reached a tentative settlement, a Florida federal judge on Oct. 21 closed the case administratively without prejudice to the parties to file a stipulation of dismissal within 60 days, retaining jurisdiction over the case pending the consummation of the settlement.
October 21, 2024
Causation Experts In Deepwater Injury Case Properly Excluded, 11th Circuit Says

ATLANTA — A district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding two experts retained by men who allege that they were injured as a result of exposure to crude oil and dispersants during the cleanup of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and granting summary judgment in favor of BP Exploration & Production Inc. and its affiliates, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 18.
October 18, 2024
Nevada High Court: No PREP Act Immunity For Failure To Set COVID Safety Protocol

CARSON CITY, Nev. — A panel of the Nevada Supreme Court has denied a petition filed by a skilled nursing facility for a writ of mandamus directing a state court judge to dismiss the complaint of the survivor of a rehabilitation patient who died of COVID-19 contracted while in the facility, holding that neither the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act nor a state COVID-19 emergency directive granted immunity for the facility’s failure to establish an effective COVID-19 safety protocol.
October 16, 2024
Connecticut Jury Hits J&J Entities With $15 Million Talc Verdict

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A jury in Connecticut on Oct. 15 awarded a man and his wife $15 million in their asbestos-talc suit against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and various related entities and triggered a punitive damages phase that by state law will be decided by the judge in the future, sources told Mealey Publications.
October 16, 2024
Nevada High Court Affirms Retroactive Application Of Higher Attorney Fee Cap

CARSON CITY, Nev. — A trial court did not err in awarding the prevailing plaintiffs in a personal injury case the maximum attorney fee award under revised rules that went into effect after the defendants filed their request for a new trial because the amendment to the rules was a procedural change governing the remedy and did not affect the parties’ substantive rights, a Nevada Supreme Court panel ruled.
October 16, 2024
Taxotere MDL Judge Won’t Reconsider Lone Pine Order Requiring Proof Of Diagnosis

NEW ORLEANS — The federal judge overseeing the Taxotere hair loss multidistrict litigation refused to reconsider her Lone Pine order requiring that plaintiffs, including representatives of plaintiffs who have died, show proof of a diagnosis of permanent chemotherapy-induced alopecia (PCIA).
October 15, 2024
Panel Reverses Judgment For Nursing Home In Death Suit Over Sepsis, Organ Failure

CLEVELAND — An Ohio appellate court reversed in part and remanded a lower court’s ruling granting summary judgment to a nursing home and related entities in a wrongful death and negligence suit against them related to a former resident’s sepsis and organ failure that led to his death, finding that the lower court erred in its determination that vicarious liability claims cannot prevail against the nursing home and related parties because the complaint did not name as a defendant an individual employee of the nursing home.
October 14, 2024
Judge: ‘Multitude Of Issues’ Remain In Coverage Suit Over Fatal Drunk Driving Crash

STAMFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut judge denied an insurance agency’s motion for summary judgment that it had no duty to recommend or procure a liquor liability insurance policy for a mini market that would have covered the risks associated with its unlicensed and illegal sale of hard alcohol, finding there are a “multitude of issues” that preclude summary judgment in favor of the agency in a negligence lawsuit arising from a $24 million wrongful death settlement.
October 11, 2024
3rd-Party Defendants: ‘Norfolk Southern Alone’ Is Liable For Ohio Train Derailment

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Two of the third-party defendants being sued by Norfolk Southern Corp. over the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that released toxic chemicals into the air and soil have filed a brief in support of a motion for summary judgment on two claims against them, arguing that “Norfolk Southern — and Norfolk Southern alone — is responsible for the derailment it caused and the consequences of its erroneous vent-and-burn decision.”
October 10, 2024
Nursing Home Counsel Enters Appearance In Suit Over Elopement Injuries, Death

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Legal counsel for both a nursing home and the county that operates it on Oct. 9 entered an appearance in a Pennsylvania federal court after a widow and administratrix of her husband’s estate sued the nursing home and the county, asserting claims for wrongful death, survival and deprivation of rights related to the defendants’ alleged failure to supervise the decedent whose elopement purportedly led to the injuries resulting in his death.
October 10, 2024
Standing, Adequacy Of RICO Allegations Disputed In Reinsurer’s Lawsuit

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge has dismissed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act lawsuit without prejudice against more than a dozen defendants that a reinsurer alleged took part in purportedly fraudulent workers’ compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits.
October 09, 2024
Testimony On Child’s Sexual Abuse OK’d In Case Against School Board, Bus Monitor

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge denied a motion to exclude testimony based on a forensic child sexual abuse interview after finding that the expert’s testimony is reliable and will assist a jury, also citing the expert’s previously allowed testimony in related cases.
October 08, 2024
High Court Hears Arguments On Whether ATF May Treat ‘Ghost Gun’ Parts As Firearms

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 8 heard competing arguments as to whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) may for the purposes of regulation broaden the Gun Control Act’s (GCA) definition of “firearm” to include parts of “ghost guns,” which can be assembled into weapons after performing certain operations on them such as drilling holes or removing plastic tabs and which, before the regulation, were considered by some manufacturers to not require serial numbers or a firearms background check before sale.
October 07, 2024
Illinois Judge Rejects Challenges To $45M Asbestos-Talc Verdict

CHICAGO — An Illinois judge rejected post-trial motions challenging a $45 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson entities, finding sufficient evidence and support for plaintiffs’ expert testimony, that a pair of defense witnesses were properly limited and that the jury was properly instructed, including on the issue of successor liability.
October 07, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Review Ruling Affirming Care Home Arbitration Bid Denial

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 denied certiorari to a California skilled nursing facility and its owner/operator who sought review of a California Supreme Court decision that affirmed the denial of their efforts to compel arbitration of an elder abuse and negligence suit filed against them related to a former resident’s fall and injuries.
October 07, 2024
Debate Over Proper Bond For Appeal Of $8.8M Asbestos Verdict Continues

LOS ANGELES — A dispute over the proper appellate bond covering a nearly $9 million asbestos verdict continues after the parties were unable to come to an agreement, leading to supplemental briefing in which a defendant tells a Los Angeles court that its proffered bond is now complete while the plaintiffs argue that the company is not doing the math correctly and, having already shorted the bond, is acting with unclean hands.
October 04, 2024
Pittsburgh Jury’s $1.5M In Punitive Damages Brings Asbestos Verdict To $3.8M

PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania jury awarded a couple $3.8 million, including $1.5 million in punitive damages, for the husband’s mesothelioma and found Foster Wheeler LLC 100% liable.
October 04, 2024
$25M Flint Settlement With Engineering Firm Gets Final Approval

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan granted final approval on Oct. 3 to a $25 million settlement in the litigation for the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint, Mich., that resolves claims of residents and businesses that sued an engineering firm that was involved in making the decision to switch the local water supply to the Flint River, which precipitated the crisis.
October 04, 2024
Vape Battery Explosion Victim Urges Panel To Uphold $1.6M Verdict

WILMINGTON, N.C. — A man burned when an e-cigarette device’s battery exploded in his pocket filed an appellee brief urging the North Carolina Court of Appeals to reject arguments for reversal of a jury verdict in his favor worth more than $1.6 million, arguing that the jury heard sufficient evidence to hold a battery distributor liable for his injuries.
October 03, 2024
Putative Class Plaintiff Drops Defendant From Nicotine Pouch Youth Marketing Suit

HARTFORD, Conn. — A consumer bringing a putative class action suit accusing Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) of violating Florida consumer protection statutes by targeting youth and deceptively advertising Zyn nicotine pouches as a “safer and healthier alternative to smoking” on Oct. 2 filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of co-defendant Swedish Match North America LLC after it moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
September 26, 2024
Tobacco Companies Urge Dismissal Of Nicotine Pouch Youth Marketing Claims

HARTFORD, Conn. — Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) and Swedish Match North America LLC filed motions in Connecticut federal court urging dismissal of a Zyn nicotine pouch consumer’s putative class action suit accusing them violating Florida consumer protection statutes by targeting youth and deceptively advertising the pouch products as a “safer and healthier alternative to smoking.”
September 24, 2024
Panel Reverses Order Denying Motion To Compel Arbitration In Care Home Death Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California appellate court reversed and remanded a lower court order denying a nursing home facility’s motion to compel arbitration in a wrongful death suit filed against it over a former resident’s death from drinking industrial cleaner, finding that remand is appropriate to determine whether the arbitration agreement was “validly executed” as well as resolving the issue of arbitrable claims in this case where different persons were agents pursuant to a durable power of attorney (POA) and a health care POA.
September 24, 2024
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 May, June, July, August and September 2024 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.