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Mealey's Personal Injury

  • October 13, 2025

    Couple: New Trial Motion Coming After Defense Verdict In Asbestos-Pipe Case

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A couple whose asbestos-pipe case a California jury rejected earlier this year filed notice on Oct. 10 stating that they intend to move for a new trial, citing irregularities in the proceedings and errors of law that led a jury to find that a company’s product performed as a consumer would expect and that the company was not negligent.

  • October 13, 2025

    Dead Smoker’s Estate Wins $12M After Massachusetts Jury Trial

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A jury in Massachusetts state court awarded $1 million in compensatory damages and $11 million in punitive damages, split between two tobacco companies, after rejecting the widow’s defective design claims but finding in favor of the widow on fraud-based claims relating to the tobacco companies’ material misrepresentations that her late husband relied upon before switching to filtered cigarettes, later being diagnosed with lung cancer and dying at age 55.

  • October 13, 2025

    Hawaii Jury Awards $350K To Estate Of Dead Smoker

    KONA, Hawaii — A jury in Hawaii state court on Oct. 10 awarded $350,000 in compensatory damages to the estate of a smoker who died at 68 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) after smoking for nearly 50 years, split fault between the smoker and tobacco company R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) and rejected claims that retailers were in the “chain of distribution.” VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • October 10, 2025

    Los Angeles Seeks New Trial After Jury Awards $48.8M To Man Struck By City Truck

    LOS ANGELES — After a trial conducted solely on the question of damages because the city of Los Angeles stipulated to its liability, the city moved for a reduction of a $48.8 million verdict or, in the alternative, a new trial after the jury found in favor of a man who has been in a coma since he was struck by a city garbage truck.

  • October 09, 2025

    Judge: Expert Can Testify On Certain Topics In Construction Site Injury Case

    MONROE, La. — An expert can opine on what caused a scaffolding system to collapse at a construction site, leading to an injury, a Louisiana federal judge held, but the judge limited his testimony to topics beyond a juror’s understanding.

  • October 07, 2025

    High Court Won’t Address Whether Uber Had Duty Of Care Toward Driver Or Customer

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied the petition for writ of certiorari of a rideshare company seeking review of a pair of Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decisions reversing federal district court rulings that the company did not owe a duty of care to two victims, one a victim of rape by someone posing as a rideshare driver and the other a victim of murder by rideshare customers.

  • October 03, 2025

    Hawaii Smoker May Seek Punitive Damages For Personal Harm Only, Judge Says

    LIHUE, Hawaii — A Hawaii state judge granted in part and denied in part two tobacco companies’ motion to dismiss a personal injury lawsuit filed against them by a smoker with bladder cancer and his wife, dismissing the smoker’s claim for fraud and partly dismissing his claim for punitive damages, writing that the smoker may seek punitives for “harm to himself,” but not harm to “society.”

  • September 25, 2025

    Oral Arguments Held In Appeal Of $475K Punitive Award For Smoker’s Estate

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Attorneys representing a tobacco company urged the Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal during oral arguments on Sept. 24 to reverse or order remittitur of a $475,000 punitive damages verdict awarded in favor of the estate of a dead smoker, arguing that the award is excessive because it is 11 times greater than the compensatory damages the estate was awarded.

  • September 25, 2025

    Character Technologies Facing 3 More Suits Over Chatbots’ Harm To Minors

    Character Technologies Inc., its founders and related companies were hit with a trio of strict liability and negligence lawsuits claiming that the company’s artificial intelligence chatbots caused mental and physical harm to minors.  The suits, filed in federal courts in Colorado and New York federal courts, bring to six the number of known suits claiming harm to minors from the company’s chatbots.

  • September 23, 2025

    Motorists Struck By Speeding LAPD Officer Receive $18M Settlement From City

    LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles and two motorists injured in a collision with a police car driven by a city officer, who was driving 80 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone without lights or sirens “trying to catch up” to a speeder, reached an $18 million settlement several days after the start of a trial on their state court lawsuit.

  • September 22, 2025

    Appellants Argue Reinsurer Was ‘De Facto Insurer’ In $844M Crash Coverage Appeal

    MIAMI — Survivors of a 2016 plane crash and representatives of the deceased filed a brief in a Florida appellate court, arguing that a reinsurer acted as a “de facto insurer” and that state law accordingly permits them to pursue independent bad faith and coverage claims despite a trial court’s dismissal of their amended complaint that sought to enforce approximately $844 million in consent judgments.

  • September 22, 2025

    Illinois Federal Judge Agrees To Limit Life Care Planning Expert’s Testimony

    SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A life care planning expert retained in a medical negligence case can opine on the costs associated with the future care of a woman who alleges that her medical treatment was inadequate but cannot base that testimony on her selection of necessary medical codes, an Illinois federal judge ruled Sept. 19.

  • September 19, 2025

    Prison Doctor Wins Summary Judgment After Expert Out In Deliberate Indifference Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — An expert retained by a former inmate who alleges that delayed medical care worsened his injuries cannot testify after a federal judge in Virigina found that his report does not comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 and that his medical opinions are inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • September 19, 2025

    Tobacco Defendants Object To Opening Statements In Widow’s Wrongful Death Suit

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Two tobacco companies and a local retailer filed objections to certain allegedly improper comments in the opening statement of a smoker’s widow after her wrongful death trial kicked off in Massachusetts state court, where the widow claims that her husband was deceived by the tobacco companies into believing filtered cigarettes were safer before he died from lung cancer at age 55. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • September 19, 2025

    Experts Out In Gun Design Defect Case; Manufacturer Wins Summary Judgment

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge granted summary judgment to a gun manufacturer after excluding two experts retained by a man who claims that his firearm accidently discharged and caused injuries.

  • September 18, 2025

    Case By Prisoners Alleging Prison Mismanagement Of COVID-19 Settles

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Having been informed that the parties settled the case, a Michigan federal court dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit by prisoners alleging civil rights violations by prison officials stemming from their management of the prison in response to COVID-19.

  • September 18, 2025

    Arizona High Court Strikes Down Limited Immunity For COVID-19 Treatment Providers

    PHOENIX — A divided Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of a state appellate court, which held that a state statute enacted to grant medical providers immunity for ordinary negligence in treating patients with COVID-19 was unconstitutional as violative of Arizona’s anti-abrogation clause.

  • September 17, 2025

    California Bill Seeks To Curb Harm To Minors From AI Chatbots

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As the number of lawsuits alleging that minors were harmed by the use of artificial intelligence chatbots continues to grow, the California State Legislature passed a measure designed to ensure AI companions will not promote self-harm.

  • September 16, 2025

    Philips Recalls Batch Of Sleep Apnea Devices, Citing Software Issues

    SILVER SPRING, Md. — Philips Respironics has recalled certain continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) and bi-level positive air pressure (BiPAP) sleep apnea devices because of a software error, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

  • September 16, 2025

    Character Technologies Defendants Belong In Florida Court, Family Says

    ORLANDO, Fla. — Character Technologies Inc.’s cofounders knew the danger artificial intelligence chatbots posed, dominated management of the company and actively participated in the misconduct that led to a child’s suicide, a mother tells a federal judge in arguing that the court has jurisdiction.  In a Sept. 15 docket entry the court granted the defendants leave to file reply briefs.

  • September 16, 2025

    Parent Files Wrongful Death Suit Against Roblox, Discord Over Teen Son’s Suicide

    SAN FRANCISCO — The mother of a 15-year-old boy who committed suicide after purported sexual exploitation through online apps filed suit in a state court against Roblox Corp., which describes its app as “a platform for communication and connection,” and Discord Inc., whose app is described as “a voice, video, and text communication platform,” alleging negligence and other claims for their failure to protect her son from harm by a child predator using the platforms.

  • September 16, 2025

    Benton Harbor Residents Say Water Plant Operator’s Conduct Was ‘Shocking’

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Residents who have sued Benton Harbor, Mich., and its officials over lead contamination in drinking water have filed a brief in Michigan federal court arguing that Benton Harbor Water Plant operator Michael O’Malley’s conduct was “deliberately indifferent and shocking,” therefore his motion for summary judgment dismissal of the lone remaining claim against him should be denied.

  • September 16, 2025

    Ladder Company Awarded Summary Judgment After Expert Deemed Inadmissible

    ST. LOUIS — A ladder manufacturer secured a summary judgment award after a Missouri federal judge found that a man’s expert was unqualified to render an opinion on a manufacturing defect under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • September 16, 2025

    Oregon Jury Awards $33 Million In Shipyard Laborer’s Asbestos Gaskets Case

    PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon jury awarded a former shipyard laborer $33 million after he developed mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos in John Crane Inc. gaskets and packing, attributing 30% of the liability to the company after finding that the conduct of four of 15 nonparties was also a substantial factor in causing the disease.

  • September 15, 2025

    3M Removes AstroTurf PFAS Case Brought By Former Pro Baseball Players’ Widows

    PHILADELPHIA — The 3M Co. on Sept. 12 removed to Pennsylvania federal court a lawsuit brought against it and other makers or suppliers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) by former players and some widows of former players for the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team who allege that the companies are liable for wrongful death and other harm due to the presence of PFAS in the artificial turf that was used for the surface of the baseball field in Veterans Stadium, the team’s former home stadium.  3M argues that the federal officer removal statute applies because the alleged PFAS contamination is linked to its manufacture of the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) for the U.S. military and says the players’ alleged injuries stem from the fact that they drank local water, which is tainted with AFFF.