Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Product Liability
-
July 25, 2024
Fisher-Price, Mattel Ink $19M Deal Over Recalled Baby Sleeper
Fisher-Price and parent company Mattel asked a Buffalo federal judge for preliminary approval for a $19 million payment to settle a class action over a recalled baby sleeper that a group of consumers claims was falsely advertised as safe.
-
July 24, 2024
Boeing, DOJ Finalize 737 Max Plea Deal
The Boeing Co. has finalized its agreement to plead guilty to conspiring to defraud safety regulators about the 737 Max 8's development, avoiding a criminal trial over a pair of deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019, according to a U.S. Department of Justice court filing Wednesday evening.
-
July 24, 2024
11th Circ. Says Nokia Unit Immune From Worker's Negligence Suit
The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday declined to revive a suit against Nokia subsidiary SAC Wireless LLC by a worker who was electrocuted and seriously injured while helping remove a crane from a cell tower site in Georgia, ruling that the worker was an employee of a subcontractor, not SAC Wireless.
-
July 24, 2024
Exxon Loses Bid To Ditch Conn. Climate Change Fraud Suit
Exxon Mobil Corp. cannot escape Connecticut's lawsuit accusing it of deceiving consumers about the negative impact of fossil fuels on the earth's climate, a state judge ruled Tuesday in rejecting the oil and gas giant's contention that it can't be sued in the Nutmeg State.
-
July 24, 2024
Eggland's Best Accused Of Lying About Hens' 'Pleasant' Digs
Egg brand Eggland's Best was hit with a lawsuit accusing it of misleading consumers by describing living conditions for certain laying hens as "pleasant" when in reality those chickens allegedly "live in typical factory farming conditions."
-
July 24, 2024
Daniel Defense, Gun Cos. Get School Shooting Suit Tossed
A Virginia federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a suit by two victims of a 2022 school shooting against Daniel Defense LLC and 14 other gun, accessory and ammunition makers, saying the plaintiffs failed to plead that the companies' actions caused the shooting.
-
July 24, 2024
Coal Ash Crusade An Ongoing Battle For The EPA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has put coal ash enforcement at the forefront of its agenda by making it one of the agency's top enforcement and compliance priorities for the next four years, but some experts say there's still work to be done given that the EPA itself has said the industry has yet to change its ways.
-
July 24, 2024
Boulder Wants Suncor Back In Colorado Climate Suit
The city of Boulder, Colorado, and Boulder County have asked a Colorado state judge to certify part of his judgment dismissing Canadian oil and gas company Suncor Energy from the municipalities' climate change lawsuit so they can appeal that decision and bring Suncor back in.
-
July 24, 2024
GM Drops 6th Circ. Faulty Fuel Pump Appeal
The Sixth Circuit won't hear an appeal by General Motors, which initially sought to decertify seven state classes of diesel truck drivers who claimed GM sold them faulty fuel pumps, after the automaker voluntarily pulled back its bid as the parties inch closer to a $50 million deal.
-
July 24, 2024
LG Unit Seeks Exit From Georgia Exploding Battery Suit
Atlanta-based LG Chem America Inc., a subsidiary of Korean company LG Chem Ltd., is asking a Georgia state judge to end its involvement in litigation by a man who claims he was injured when a lithium-ion battery cell exploded in his pocket.
-
July 24, 2024
EV Co. Scores Initial OK On $13M Deal To End Investor Suits
A Colorado federal judge has granted preliminary approval to a $13.3 million settlement resolving shareholder lawsuits against commercial electric-vehicle company Lightning eMotors, whose executives and directors had been accused of touting unrealistic growth projections in the lead-up to a 2021 merger.
-
July 24, 2024
Liberty Mutual Gets $2.4M Oil Contamination Row Trimmed
A New York federal judge trimmed a $2.4 million coverage dispute between Liberty Mutual and an oil and gas trader over losses related to a contaminated oil shipment, finding that although the trader met its burden to make a case for recovery, certain contaminated product was excluded from coverage.
-
July 24, 2024
Home Depot Truck Rental Keeps Win In Ramp Injury Suit
A New Jersey appeals court won't upend a midtrial win for Tool & Truck Rental at the Home Depot in a suit from a man who alleges he was injured because of a faulty ramp.
-
July 24, 2024
Peanut Allergy Death Suit Returns To Conn. State Court
Settling accusations of procedural "gamesmanship," a federal judge has approved an agreement to return to Connecticut state court a lawsuit against the Stew Leonard's grocery store chain by the estate of an Ailey School-trained ballet dancer who allegedly died from eating mislabeled peanut-laden cookies manufactured by another company.
-
July 24, 2024
Insurers Get Hyundai, Kia Engine Claim Suits Remanded
A California federal court has remanded to state court four suits by insurers claiming that Hyundai and Kia are on the hook for 829 engine failure and engine fire claims totaling over $7.7 million in damages, saying the automakers' snap removals violated the forum defendant rule.
-
July 24, 2024
EPA Moving Toward New Regulations For 5 Chemicals
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday kicked off the process to fast-track new health risk evaluations for five chemicals, including vinyl chloride, a substance that raised alarm after the Norfolk Southern train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, last year.
-
July 23, 2024
Knives Out For Another Pro-Agency Landmark After Chevron
Only weeks after U.S. Supreme Court conservatives took a hatchet to the judicial deference shown to federal agencies, right-leaning lawyers are imploring the justices to rock the administrative law realm again by gutting a New Deal-era precedent at the heart of the modern regulatory system.
-
July 23, 2024
Meet The Lead Ozempic Lawyers
The recently deceased U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter this past spring appointed plaintiff leadership in litigation over Ozempic and similar drugs over allegations that the medications cause gastrointestinal issues. Here's who's who in the list of plaintiffs' leaders.
-
July 23, 2024
Cannabis Industry Stakeholders Weigh In On Rescheduling
As the period for public comment on the Biden administration's proposal to reclassify marijuana came to a close Monday, anti-legalization activists, marijuana industry advocates and state cannabis regulators each submitted their thoughts on the potential policy shift.
-
July 23, 2024
X's Tesla Ties Could Require Judge's Recusal, Watchdog Says
Elon Musk's X Corp. wants to avoid disclosing its financial links with Tesla in the social media company's defamation lawsuit against Media Matters for America because the Texas federal judge overseeing the case likely holds Tesla stock and would need to recuse himself, the progressive media watchdog said.
-
July 23, 2024
EPA Must Ban PFAS In Pesticides, Environmental Groups Say
Farmer advocacy groups and environmentalists urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to flex its regulatory muscles and prohibit the use of pesticide formulas and containers made with so-called forever chemicals, according to a petition that says the agency is doing little to address the issue.
-
July 23, 2024
Aviation Co. Sheds Claims In Conn. Cessna Crash Suit
A Connecticut state court judge has struck numerous product liability claims against two individuals and Interstate Aviation Inc., a Plainville company that employed the pilots of a Cessna that crashed into a factory in 2021, but kept alive the same allegations against the Florida company that owned the plane and arranged the flight.
-
July 23, 2024
Laser Sights Not 'Arms,' Judge Rules, Backing Chicago Ban
An Illinois federal judge Monday upheld the constitutionality of Chicago's laser sight ban and refused to entertain a resident's "eleventh-hour request" to pursue nominal damages, ending the 14-year-old case.
-
July 23, 2024
EPA Tells 5th Circ. Louisiana Can't Stall Chemical Regulation
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the Fifth Circuit cannot decide whether a Louisiana regulator can give a neoprene maker an extra two years to comply with a federal chemical rule because the issue is already before the D.C. Circuit.
-
July 23, 2024
Yamaha Sinks Defective WaveRunner Watercraft Suit
An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday threw out a proposed class action alleging Yamaha Motor Corp. USA sold WaveRunner-brand personal watercraft with defective fuel gauges and trip computers, saying the complaint fails to properly allege a breach of warranty or fraud.
Expert Analysis
-
3 Principles For Minimizing The Risk Of A Nuclear Verdict
In one of the latest examples of so-called nuclear verdicts, a single plaintiff was awarded $2.25 billion in a jury trial against Monsanto — revealing the need for defense attorneys to prioritize trust, connection and simplicity when communicating with modern juries, say Jenny Hergenrother and Mia Falzarano at Alston & Bird.
-
Series
Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.
-
Opinion
New Rule 702 Helps Judges Keep Bad Science Out Of Court
A court's recent decision to exclude dubious testimony from the plaintiffs' experts in multidistrict litigation over acetaminophen highlights the responsibility that judges have to keep questionable scientific evidence out of courtrooms, particularly under recent amendments to Federal Rule of Evidence 702, says Sherman Joyce at the American Tort Reform Association.
-
SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap
As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.
-
Opinion
Proposed Rule Could Impair MDL Flexibility, Harm Plaintiffs
While proposed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1 is intended to enhance the management of multidistrict litigation proceedings, its one-size-fits-all requirements could stifle the flexibility that judges need to address the varying circumstances of MDLs effectively, and jeopardize plaintiffs' ability to pursue justice, say Christopher Seeger and Jennifer Scullion at Seeger Weiss.
-
Googling Prospective Jurors Is Usually A Fool's Errand
Though a Massachusetts federal court recently barred Google from Googling potential jurors in a patent infringement case, the company need not worry about missing evidence of bias, because internet research of jury pools usually doesn’t yield the most valuable information — voir dire and questionnaires do, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
-
A Look Into How Jurors Reach High Damages Awards
In the wake of several large jury awards, Richard Gabriel and Emily Shaw at Decision Analysis shed light on challenges that jurors have in deciding them, the nonevidentiary and extra-legal methods they use to do so, and new research about the themes and jury characteristics of high-damages jurors.
-
Opinion
Food Safety Bill Needed To Protect Kids From Heavy Metals
The recent announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that hundreds of children may have been exposed to unsafe lead levels in applesauce highlights the continuing failure by Congress to pass legislation that would require baby food manufacturers to ensure safer levels of heavy metals in their products, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.
-
Opinion
3rd-Party Financiers Have Power To Drive Mass Tort Cases
The abnormal recovery premium presented by modern mass tort cases coupled with their deemphasized role for attorneys creates an opportunity for third-party financiers to both create and control these cases, says Samir Parikh at Lewis & Clark Law School.
-
Preparing For A New Wave Of Litigation Under Silicosis Rules
After the Division of Occupational Safety and Health of California issued an emergency temporary standard to combat noncompliance with assessments of workers' exposure to particles of crystalline silica, companies that manufacture, distribute or sell silica-containing products will need aggressive case-specific discovery to navigate a new wave of litigation, say attorneys at Dechert.
-
Managing Competing Priorities In Witness Preparation
There’s often a divide between what attorneys and witnesses want out of the deposition process, but litigation teams can use several strategies to resolve this tension and help witnesses be more comfortable with the difficult conditions of testifying, say Ava Hernández and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.
-
Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout
While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
-
Opinion
Gilead Ruling Signals That Innovating Can Lead To Liability
A California appeals court's ruling last month in Gilead Life Sciences v. Superior Court of San Francisco that a drug manufacturer can be held liable for delaying the introduction of an improved version of its medication raises concerns about the chilling effects that expansive product liability claims may have on innovation, says Gary Myers at the University of Missouri School of Law.
-
Understanding And Working With The Millennials On Your Jury
Every trial attorney will be facing a greater proportion of millennials on their jury, as they now comprise the largest generation in the U.S., and winning them over requires an understanding of their views on politics, corporations and damages, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation Consulting.
-
Series
Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.