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

Mealey's Personal Injury

September 13, 2023
Judge Rules On 4 Motions To Exclude, Denies Summary Judgment In Injury Case

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge ruled that certain motions filed by Home Depot in a slip-and-fall case were attempts “to cloak an untimely discovery motion in the guise of a motion to exclude,” finding that experts retained by the man injured can testify.
September 11, 2023
Man Alleges Defective Ankle-Monitoring Device Causes Skin Injuries

DENVER — A South Carolina man has filed a proposed class action in a Colorado federal court against a manufacturer of an ankle-monitoring device, alleging that the device causes rashes and skin infections.
September 11, 2023
8th Circuit Affirms Remand Of COVID Death Suit Against Care Home

ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s order that remanded to state court a wrongful death suit filed against a nursing home and related entities by the son of a man who died after purportedly contracting COVID-19 at the nursing home, finding, in part, that the district court correctly remanded the case because the son’s claims are not preempted under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act.
September 08, 2023
Illinois Jury Returns $40.75M Verdict In Asbestos Gasket Case

CHICAGO — An Illinois jury returned a $40.75 million verdict in favor of the family of a man who contracted mesothelioma and died after exposure to asbestos in John Crane Inc. products.
September 08, 2023
World Trade Center Asbestos Case Jury Awards $28.5M

NEW YORK — A New York jury awarded a lung cancer sufferer $28.5 million and apportioned various levels of liability to the last three remaining defendants in a case alleging that the former cigarette smoker suffered asbestos exposure while working at the World Trade Center.
September 08, 2023
5th Circuit Affirms Judgments For Hospital, Doctor In Suit Over Ventilator Removal

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s judgments consolidated on appeal that dismissed parents’ wrongful death suit against a hospital, medical practice and a doctor after their son died when the doctor removed him from a ventilator, finding that the parents failed to show the municipal liability required for a due process violation and that the Texas Advance Directives Act (TADA) “does not create a substantive interest” for the parents or their son.
September 05, 2023
Asbestos Talc Debtor Settles Truck Driver’s Personal Injury Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — An affiliate codebtor of talc mining company Cyprus Mines Corp. and talc supplier Imerys Talc America Inc. has settled a personal injury action brought by a truck driver in Vermont for $85,000, according to a motion for approval of the deal that the debtors filed in Delaware federal bankruptcy court.
September 01, 2023
Federal Judge Rules On Motions To Exclude 3 Experts In Workplace Injury Case

ATLANTA — An expert originally retained by plaintiffs in a workplace injury case is allowed to now testify for the defense, a Georgia federal judge ruled, also finding that one expert is excluded as unreliable but another based his conclusions on reliable information.
August 30, 2023
Minnesota Court: Expert Testimony On ‘Novel Scientific Theory’ Properly Excluded

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota appeals court affirmed dismissal of a medical malpractice suit alleging a birth injury after finding no error in a lower court’s decision to exclude expert testimony.
August 30, 2023
2nd Circuit Upholds Forum Rule Application, Sanctions In WWE CTE Class, Mass Cases

NEW YORK — A trial court’s decisions to award World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. and Vincent K. McMahon (together, WWE) sanctions and apply the forum rule to determine the amount in a class tort complaint and a mass action brought by the same attorney on behalf of allegedly injured wrestlers were upheld by a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel, which found that there was no abuse of discretion.
August 25, 2023
Judge Dismisses Wrongful Death Suit Against Care Home For Lack Of Jurisdiction

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge dismissed a consolidated case filed by an estate representative who alleged that multiple parties, including a nursing home and legal counsel, conspired to declare his mother incapacitated, take her assets and force her into a nursing home, where she purportedly received inadequate treatment that led to her death, finding that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction.
August 25, 2023
Florida Jury Returns $2.3M Verdict In Wrongful Death Suit Against Nursing Home

GAINSVILLE, Fla. — A Florida state court jury found a nursing home negligent in a wrongful death suit filed by the estate of a woman who died after living there, alleging that the nursing home’s failure to provide adequate care for the woman’s pressure ulcer contributed to her death, resulting in a $2.3 million jury verdict for loss of companionship and mental pain and suffering for the woman’s husband.
August 24, 2023
Remaining Civil Rights Claims In University COVID-19 Death Dismissed; Case Remanded

PITTSBURGH — In a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the administrator of a university student who died of COVID-19, a Pennsylvania federal judge on Aug. 23 sua sponte dismissed with prejudice civil rights claims against the employee of a company that owned and operated student housing and remanded the case to state court to address the surviving state law claims, ruling that the claims against the employee suffered from the same inadequacies as those previously dismissed against the university, university employees and various third parties.
August 23, 2023
Georgia Supreme Court: Law Enforcement Officer Subject To Full Daubert Inquiry

ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court found that “the well-established test governing the admissibility of expert testimony applies with equal force to investigating law enforcement officers,” reversing two lower courts that ruled that an officer is presumptively qualified as an expert.
August 21, 2023
6th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of Exploding Vape Suit Against Korean Battery Maker

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a Michigan federal judge’s dismissal for lack of a personal jurisdiction of a lawsuit against a foreign battery maker brought by a man who was burned by an exploding e-cigarette, finding that the plaintiff’s evidence established sufficient contacts between the battery maker and Michigan.
August 18, 2023
Illinois Wrongful Death Statute Expanded To Permit Punitive Damages

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois will immediately begin permitting punitive damages in wrongful death actions after the state’s governor signed legislation amending the state’s wrongful death act.
August 17, 2023
Nonprofit Says Its Ohio Train Derailment Claims Against EPA Are Valid

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A nonprofit organization has filed a brief in Ohio federal court contending that it should deny a motion to dismiss its lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency related to the East Palestine train derailment and the subsequent toxic chemical spill on grounds the EPA and local authorities failed to conduct proper testing for chemical spills and misled members of the public as to whether the air and drinking water were safe.
August 16, 2023
Maui Homeowners Bring Class Suit Against Electric Companies After Massive Fire

HONOLULU — A couple who owned a townhome in Lahaina, a Hawaiian town largely destroyed by a fire on Aug. 8, filed a class complaint in a Hawaii court accusing the electric companies as well as unnamed governmental agencies and corporations of causing the massive wildfire that destroyed homes and businesses and killed more than 100 people by failing to shut off power after a high wind watch and red flag warning were issued by the National Weather Service (NWS).
August 15, 2023
7th Circuit Affirms $3.3M Bard IVC Filter Verdict; 510(k) Properly Excluded

CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a $3.3 million inferior vena cava (IVC) filter verdict against C.R. Bard Inc., ruling that the trial court did not err by excluding evidence about the device’s 510(k) approval or by reopening the plaintiffs’ case to hear testimony from the reluctant implanting physician.
August 14, 2023
With Punitive Damages Pending, Parties Settle $20M Asbestos-Talc Case

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — After the parties filed briefs on the appropriateness of punitive damages in the wake of a $20 million asbestos-talc verdict, one of the defendants told a Connecticut judge on Aug. 11 that the parties had resolved the case, mooting pending post-trial motions.
August 11, 2023
OSHA Regulations Don’t Apply To Maritime Case, Judge Rules In Excluding Expert

DETROIT — An expert relied on Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations in forming his conclusions in a maritime personal injury lawsuit, but the regulations do not apply to U.S. Coast Guard inspected vessels, a Michigan federal judge said, granting a motion to exclude his testimony.
August 11, 2023
Panel Quashes Order Denying Dismissal In Wrongful Death Suit Against Nursing Home

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida appellate court granted certiorari and quashed a lower court’s order denying dismissal of an estate’s wrongful death and negligence suit against a purported partnership that owned a 95% interest in a nursing home’s licensee and the alleged sole owner of the licensee’s management company, finding that the estate’s allegations that the partnership and owner were involved with the nursing home’s management decisions did not suffice to comply with Florida law regarding negligence suits against nursing homes.
August 09, 2023
Split Supreme Court Revives Federal ‘Ghost Gun’ Regulation Pending Appeal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 8 granted the application of the United States to stay a judgment of a Texas federal court vacating a rule promulgated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that broadened the definition of “firearm” to include parts of “ghost guns,” which can be assembled into weapons but, before the rule, were not required to have serial numbers and could be obtained without a firearms background check.
August 09, 2023
Medical Expert Properly Excluded From Opining On Causation, 11th Circuit Affirms

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found no error in a district court excluding an expert witness under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. after finding that the expert did not consider alternative reasons for a woman’s allergic reaction, affirming the dismissal of a medical malpractice suit.
August 09, 2023
Civil Rights Claims In Suit Stemming From University COVID-19 Death Dismissed

PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania federal judge dismissed with prejudice civil rights claims in the amended complaint of the estate administrator of a university student who died of COVID-19 in a lawsuit that also alleged state law claims of wrongful death, survival and willful misconduct against the university and others, finding that the administrator could not establish that there had been conduct that “shocks the conscience” given the several measures taken by the university to reduce the risk posed by COVID-19 during the pandemic.