Mealey's Personal Injury : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Personal Injury

June 06, 2023
Ford Says Expert, Settlements Warrant Directed Verdict, Amended Judgment

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A woman essentially concedes that her expert’s opinion was based on nothing more than his belief that asbestos friction products were dangerous unless proven otherwise, and settlements more than offset the jury’s entire $275,000 award and any fees, Ford Motor Co. argues in reply briefs in support of motions to amend the judgment and for directed verdict.
June 06, 2023
Missouri Jury Awards $9.7M For 39-Year-Old Woman’s Household Asbestos Exposures

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri jury awarded a widower and an estate $9.7 million for a woman’s take-home exposure to asbestos and resulting death from mesothelioma after the judge in the case said the plaintiff was entitled to sanctions for discovery violations.
June 05, 2023
Medical Malpractice Award OK’d By Ga. Appeals Court, Expert Testimony Permissible

ATLANTA — A Georgia appeals court affirmed an $8.5 million verdict in favor of a man suing for medical malpractice related to the death of his wife after finding that the medical professionals “have not met their burden of showing that the trial court abused its broad discretion in admitting” expert testimony.
June 02, 2023
Panel Remands For Malpractice Determination In Negligence Suit Against Care Home

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana appellate court affirmed in part, vacated in part and remanded a negligence suit filed on behalf of a deceased former resident against the nursing home where she lived, finding that while the trial court correctly determined the alleged failure to provide medical care after the decedent fell constituted medical malpractice allegations that were premature absent a medical panel review, the court is unable to determine whether the decedent’s “fall occurred within the course of medical treatment.”
June 01, 2023
Panel Vacates Half Of $20M Judgment Against RJR For Smoker’s Cancer Death

BOSTON — A Massachusetts appellate court vacated a jury’s $11,275,000 punitive damages award against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) from a $21 million judgment against it for causing a smoker’s addiction to cigarettes and death from cancer and remanded the case for a new trial after finding that the trial court should have entered a directed verdict on the estate’s negligent marketing claim.
May 31, 2023
Seattle Jury Issues Verdict For Nursing Home In Negligence Suit Over COVID Deaths

SEATTLE — A Washington federal court jury issued a verdict in favor of a nursing home sued by two estates representing decedents who died in 2020 after contracting COVID-19 at the facility, finding that while the nursing home acted negligently regarding its care of one of the decedents, neither estate representative proved that its negligence caused injuries to the estate representatives or decedents.
May 30, 2023
Expert Cannot Testify On Who Was Driving Personal Watercraft At Time Of Accident

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An expert retained by the estate of a woman who was killed in a personal watercraft accident cannot testify as to who was driving because his testimony is unreliable under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., an Alabama federal judge ruled May 27.
May 26, 2023
Michigan Panel Remands Medical Malpractice Suit For Testimony Exclusion Error

DETROIT — Michigan evidentiary law requires a trial court to filter out expert testimony that is unreliable, not to determine if the testimony is “unassailable,” a state appeals court held May 25, reversing an award of summary judgment in favor of a hospital and its employees in a medical malpractice suit.
May 23, 2023
Denial Of Care Home’s Motion To Compel Arbitration Affirmed Absent POA Signature

FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Kentucky appeals court affirmed a lower court order denying a nursing home’s motion to compel arbitration in an executor’s negligence and wrongful death suit filed against it on behalf of a deceased former resident, finding that the home failed to establish the arbitration agreement’s validity because it was signed by the decedent’s spouse in her capacity as his wife rather than power of attorney (POA) and was not a condition for admission.
May 23, 2023
Texas Supreme Court Affirms Jurisdiction Over Battery Maker In Exploding Vape Case

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court affirmed a trial court’s finding of personal jurisdiction over a Korean battery-maker and its U.S. subsidiary in a personal injury lawsuit brought against them by a man who was burned after a battery they manufactured exploded in his e-cigarette device, rejecting their defense that they did not intend for their batteries to be sold for standalone use in e-cigarettes.
May 22, 2023
Federal Judge OK’s Testimony On Safety Policies, Procedures In Slip-And-Fall Case

DENVER — A Colorado federal judge on May 19 denied a motion to preclude an expert retained by a grocery store owner to rebut an expert on safety procedure in a slip-and-fall case, rejecting a man’s claim that the expert’s testimony was irrelevant under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
May 17, 2023
Expert Testimony OK’d In Indiana Appeal But Court Finds $4M Verdict Excessive

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana appeals court found no error in the admission of expert testimony and photographs submitted in support of a woman’s slip-and-fall claims against a store but agreed that the $4 million jury award was excessive and granted a new trial to determine damages.
May 17, 2023
Ohio Officials Named In Train Derailment Case Say Plaintiffs Lack Standing To Sue

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) moved in Ohio federal court seeking to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a nonprofit group pertaining to the state’s response to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, contending that the group lacks standing and fails to state a substantive due process claim.
May 17, 2023
Magistrate: Safety Expert Out In Slip-And-Fall Case, Testimony Unhelpful To Jury

DENVER — Walmart successfully argued to a Colorado federal magistrate judge that an expert retained by a woman who alleges that she was injured after slipping on a floor inside of a store is inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
May 16, 2023
Testimony Based On Medical Records Is ‘Unreliable’ In Crash Suit, Judge Said

ROANOKE, Va. — A federal judge in Virginia agreed that testimony from a neurosurgeon retained by a trucking company sued in relation to a crash involving one of its employees should be limited and excluded testimony based on certain medical records.
May 12, 2023
Woman Says Prevailing Party Costs Aren’t Subject To Offset After Asbestos Verdict

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Federal rules permit prevailing parties’ recovery of certain litigation expenses that are not subject to offsets, a woman awarded $275,000 by a jury for her relative’s death from mesothelioma told a federal judge in North Carolina in response to Ford Motor Co.’s post-trial motion to amend the verdict.
May 11, 2023
Injured Man’s Experts Can Testify In Suit Against Cruise Company, Judge Says

MIAMI — A Florida federal judge denied two motions filed by Royal Caribbean to exclude experts retained by a man who alleges that he was injured while aboard a cruise ship because the objections to the testimony do not amount to an inadmissibility ruling.
May 11, 2023
Norfolk Southern Loses Bid To Transfer School’s Train Derailment Toxic Injury Case

PITTSBURGH — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on May 10 denied a motion by Norfolk Southern Corp. to transfer to Ohio federal court a school district’s toxic exposure case related to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, ruling that transfer is not warranted based on multiple factors.
May 09, 2023
Massachusetts High Court Affirms More Than $37M Verdict For Smoker

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on May 9 affirmed a jury’s verdict against a tobacco company for conspiracy leading to a smoker’s addiction to cigarettes and lung cancer, entered a judgment for more than $37 million, including trebled damages, attorney fees and interest, and affirmed the accrual of pre- and post-judgment interest at the statutory 12% rate.
May 08, 2023
Split Mass. High Court Reverses Dismissal In Veterans Home COVID-19 Death Case

BOSTON — A split Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reversed a lower a court’s dismissal of criminal charges against a former superintendent and medical director of a veterans home for their roles in commingling COVID-19-symptomatic residents with asymptomatic residents, leading to 76 deaths, finding that the defendants’ failure to comply with infection control practices constituted wanton or reckless behavior.
May 05, 2023
Judge Says Fracking Operators Failed To Meet Standard Of Care In Injury Lawsuit

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied a motion to dismiss a hydraulic fracturing injury case, ruling that “a reasonable factfinder” could find that the fracking operators’ conduct “constituted an extreme departure from the standard of care.” The judge also said that questions remained regarding the application of “gross negligence” in the master service agreement between the operators and a third-party contractor and, therefore, the case could not be dismissed.
May 04, 2023
High Court Asks Assault Victims To Respond In Title IX Statute Of Limitations Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has requested that victims of sexual assault by an Ohio university employee respond to the university’s petitions for writ of certiorari by June 1. The university seeks review of a rule as to when a Title IX claim accrues devised by a divided Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in conflict with other circuits that permitted several plaintiffs to assert Title IX claims against it based on conduct that occurred more than 20 years before they filed suit.
May 04, 2023
Medical Coding Expert ‘Has No Place’ In Slip-And-Fall Case, Federal Judge Rules

MIAMI — A Florida federal judge granted a man’s motion to exclude a coding and billing expert retained by Wal-Mart in a slip-and-fall case, citing previous cases in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that found the expert’s testimony to be unhelpful to a jury.
May 04, 2023
Panel Rules On Agency Issues In Estate’s Negligence Suit Against Hospital, Doctor

ELGIN, Ill. — An Illinois appellate court granted in part and reversed in part and remanded an estate administrator’s appeal of a trial court’s summary judgment for a hospital in a negligence and wrongful death suit against the hospital and a treating physician after the administrator’s husband died there, finding that the trial court erred by granting summary judgment regarding the estate administrator’s claims but did not err on claims made under the Illinois Family Expense Act because the administrator had notice of the doctor’s independent contractor status.
May 03, 2023
Plaintiffs Update Bid For Third-Party Complaint Against Reinsurers In Crash Case

MIAMI — The day after updating their proposal for adding claims against reinsurers in a plane crash case in which settlements were reached over an $844 million default judgment, plaintiffs filed a notice in Florida court that the hearing on their motion was canceled.