Mealey's Personal Injury
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December 14, 2023
Default Judgment Recommended In Insurance Coverage Row Over Personal Injury Suit
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal magistrate judge recommended granting default judgment to a commercial liability insurer, finding that default judgment should be granted because the insurer “is not obligated to defend or indemnify” in the underlying personal injury action due to the insured’s material misrepresentations in its policy application.
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December 14, 2023
Panel Affirms Order Denying Care Home’s Bid To Compel Arbitration In Fraud Suit
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina appellate court on Dec. 13 affirmed a lower court order that denied a skilled nursing facility’s motion to compel arbitration in a negligence and fraud suit against it related to injuries sustained by a former resident after incurring repeated falls, finding, among other things, that the former resident’s wife lacked the authority to sign the arbitration agreement on his behalf.
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December 11, 2023
High Court Won’t Hear Appeal In Case Alleging Injury From CoolSculpting Procedure
WASHINGTON, D.C. —The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 11 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a man who argued that an appellate court erred in granting summary judgment to the company that created the CoolSculpting process after finding that he was warned about the risk of paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH) and that his design defect claims failed under the risk-utility or consumer expectations tests.
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December 08, 2023
Cancer Patient, Wife Win $20.7M Against Tobacco Company In Massachusetts Trial
WOBURN, Mass. — A Massachusetts state court jury awarded a verdict worth more than $20.7 million in compensatory damages to a smoker with oral cancer and his wife against two tobacco companies and a local retailer after hearing that the smoker got hooked in the early 1960s before cigarette packs had warning labels and was unable to quit smoking until 2020, after his second cancer diagnosis. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
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December 04, 2023
Judge Says Settlements Apply To Plaintiff’s Costs, Wipe Out Ford Asbestos Verdict
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Offsets for settlement recoveries apply to costs and leave an asbestos plaintiff originally awarded $275,000 from Ford Motor Co. with nothing, a federal judge in North Carolina said.
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December 01, 2023
New York Panel Reverses, Dismisses All Claims In COVID Suit Against Nursing Home
ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York appellate court on Nov. 30 reversed a lower court decision that denied a nursing home’s motion to dismiss all claims against it in an estate executor’s suit after a decedent’s COVID-19-related death at the facility, finding that the nursing home was entitled to immunity pursuant to a since-repealed New York state law that provided protections to health care providers related to their treatment of persons during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
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November 30, 2023
BMW Denied Access To Nonparties’ Cell Records, Texts In Product Liability Suit
ORLANDO, Fla. — The cell phone records and communications of three nonparties to a products liability suit against BMW of North America LLC are protected by the attorney-client and spousal privileges, a Florida federal magistrate judge ruled Nov. 29, granting a motion to quash BMW’s subpoenas that sought this information.
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November 30, 2023
6th Circuit Vacates Class Certification In Ford Brake Defect Case
CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a trial court’s certification of a class of owners and lessees of certain Ford trucks in a case over allegedly faulty brake cylinders and remanded “for a more searching consideration” of the commonality.
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November 30, 2023
FDA Warns Users Of Reports Of Overheating CPAP Machines
SILVER SPRING, Md. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration through a safety communication warned users of Philips DreamStation 2 continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines to watch for signs of overheating.
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November 29, 2023
J&J, Plaintiff Awarded $18.8M Settle In Wake Of Denial Of Post-Trial Motions
LOS ANGELES — After Johnson & Johnson (J&J) filed a notice indicating that it would appeal denial of post-trial motions rejecting its claim that it could not be liable for an $18.8 million asbestos-talc verdict, the plaintiff told a federal judge in California that the parties reached a settlement completely resolving the case.
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November 29, 2023
FELA Asbestos Plaintiff Warns: Georgia Ruling Will Impact Every Daubert Case
ATLANTA — A man tells the Georgia Supreme Court that it must review a divided appellate court ruling excluding his Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) expert’s opinion that exposure to asbestos and other toxins caused lung cancer, saying the divided and “fractured” ruling shows the court rushed its opinion and warning that the confusion the ruling creates could result in it being cited by both parties in every trial court case applying Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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November 29, 2023
Jury Awards $11M To Estate For Smoker’s Lung Cancer Death
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Florida state court jury awarded $10 million in punitive damages against only one tobacco company defendant after awarding $1 million in compensatory damages against it and another tobacco company in favor of the estate of a woman who died from lung cancer after smoking for more than 40 years. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.
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November 29, 2023
Man Alleging Injuries From Ankle Monitoring Device Says Colorado Law Applies
DENVER — A man suing the manufacturer of an alcohol tracking ankle monitor for injuries to his skin rejected arguments that the laws of the state in which the arrest occurred should apply or that he failed to state a claim and urged a federal court in Colorado to deny a motion to dismiss.
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November 29, 2023
Panel Urged To Reverse No Cancer Finding In Engle Case By Smoker’s Widow
MIAMI — A dead smoker’s widow tells a Florida appellate panel in a reply brief that it should reverse a defense judgment against her and remand her case for a new trial, arguing that the jury’s finding that her dead husband did not have lung cancer was likely the result of improperly admitted deposition testimony and the court’s improper jury instructions.
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November 28, 2023
Panel Affirms Order Refusing To Compel Arbitration In Death Suit Against Care Home
LIMA, Ohio — An Ohio appellate court on Nov. 27 affirmed a lower court order that denied a motion by a long-term care (LTC) facility to stay a negligence and wrongful death suit filed against it and compel arbitration, finding that the lower court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the arbitration agreement the decedent signed when admitted to the assisted living portion of the facility did not apply to her later admission to the skilled nursing division of the facility.
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November 28, 2023
6th Circuit: No Error In Excluding Treating Physician, Summary Judgment Affirmed
CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment awarded to a truck driver involved in a collision, finding that the man he struck did not prove causation and that his expert was properly excluded.
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November 27, 2023
Golf Course Is Arm Of Tribe, Entitled To Tribal Immunity, Washington Panel Finds
SEATTLE — A company that owns and operates a golf course is entitled to sovereign immunity from a personal injury suit brought by a man who was injured on the course because the company is an arm of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, a Washington panel found in affirming a trial court’s judgment dismissing the case.
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November 21, 2023
Jury Awards More Than $165M Against Monsanto For PCB Injuries At Seattle School
SEATTLE — A Washington state jury on Nov. 20 awarded a combined total of $165,082,000 in compensatory and punitive damages to former teachers and staff at a Seattle area school for injuries stemming from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), finding that Pharmacia LLC, a successor to Monsanto Co., was negligent when it supplied a product that was not safe and that Monsanto misrepresented facts about the dangers of PCBs.
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November 17, 2023
Michigan Court Partially Reverses Expert Exclusion Ruling On Interlocutory Appeal
TROY, Mich. — An expert who is not board-certified in surgical critical care cannot opine on whether doctors who are board-certified breached the applicable standard of care, a Michigan appeals court ruled in an interlocutory appeal, partially reversing a trial court’s ruling in a wrongful death medical malpractice case.
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November 17, 2023
5th Circuit Says No Error In Expert Testimony, Upholds $5M Verdict For Crash
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a $5 million verdict for a woman and her brother who were injured in a car crash and allege that a Honda vehicle design defect was at fault, finding that the expert witnesses were properly admitted and rejecting other points on appeal.
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November 17, 2023
Pipe Maker Awarded $8.8M Asbestos Verdict Disputes Tainted Jury Narrative
LOS ANGELES — The fact that the jury unanimously voted against imposing punitive damages demonstrates that there was no “serious . . . misconduct” tainting jurors who eventually awarded a nearly $9 million asbestos verdict, a couple argues in California trial court briefs opposing motions for new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV).
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November 17, 2023
Panel Upholds $3.3M Judgment Against Philip Morris For Smoker’s Death From COPD
MIAMI — A Florida appellate panel on Nov. 15 affirmed a trial court’s entry of a $3.3 million judgment in favor of a Cuban immigrant’s estate against a tobacco company that a jury previously found liable for hooking him on cigarettes and causing his death from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), finding that the trial court did not err by denying the company’s pretrial motion for summary judgment.
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November 15, 2023
Magistrate Recommends Not Striking Expert Reports In Care Home Negligence Suit
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina federal magistrate judge on Nov. 14 recommended denying a skilled nursing facility’s summary judgment motion and motion to strike expert witness reports in a negligence suit against the facility by the estate of a former resident, finding that the estate has shown that failure to comply with the expert disclosure deadline was harmless and there is no basis for summary judgment without excluding the expert reports.
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November 15, 2023
Final Approval Of JP Morgan’s $290M Settlement Granted In Epstein Sex Crimes Case
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted final approval of a $290 million settlement to be paid by JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. (JPMC) in a lawsuit by a class of women allegedly abused or trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein who accuse JPMC of being liable for facilitating those crimes by maintaining Epstein’s accounts and awarded class counsel 30% of the settlement amount and expenses of more than $1 million.
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November 14, 2023
Judge Allows Expert’s Testimony, Denies Summary Judgment In Fatal Rollover Case
MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin federal magistrate judge denied a motion to exclude an engineering expert retained by the estate of a man killed when a Caterpillar Inc. dump truck rolled over, finding that his testimony meets the requirements of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. and the manufacturer’s objections can be addressed through cross-examination.