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Mealey's Personal Injury

  • May 09, 2025

    Boston Court Enters $13M Judgment In Favor Of Dead Smoker’s Estate

    BOSTON — The Suffolk County, Mass., Superior Court on May 8 entered judgment in favor of a dead smoker’s estate worth more than $13 million in compensatory and punitive damages after a jury found in favor of the estate on its claim that a tobacco company’s “power of coercion conspiracy” caused the smoker’s lung cancer and death. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • May 09, 2025

    Alabama Supreme Court Remands Soup Burn Negligence Suit For Further Discovery

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Inconsistencies and questions in the record about the identity of the owner and operator of a market and deli where purportedly scalding soup was purchased demonstrate that a plaintiff’s requested deposition of the defendant’s owner is crucial to her case, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled, concluding that a trial court exceeded its discretion by denying the plaintiff’s motion to continue a summary judgment hearing for the purpose of conducting such discovery.

  • May 07, 2025

    Plaintiffs’ Experts Allowed In Baby Formula MDL But 1st Bellwether Case Dismissed

    CHICAGO — Experts retained by parents suing the manufacturers of infant formula that they allege caused preterm infants to develop necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) can testify in the multidistrict litigation in an Illinois federal court, the judge overseeing the MDL ruled, but in a separate order the same day, she granted a manufacturer summary judgment in the first bellwether case set for trial.

  • May 07, 2025

    Judge Declares Mistrial, Calls For Retrial Of Punitives In Ethylene Oxide Case

    LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — A state court judge in Georgia on May 6 declared a mistrial in the punitive damages phase of a trial but let stand a compensatory damages verdict of $20 million in a lawsuit brought by a man who contends that a medical sterilization plant is liable for causing his cancer because it emitted ethylene oxide (EtO) into the environment.

  • May 06, 2025

    Judge: 1 Expert Out, Another Expert’s Testimony Limited In Marine Injury Case

    NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge barred a marine expert retained by a man who alleges that he was injured while working aboard a vessel from testifying and limited testimony from an expert retained by the vessel’s owner and operator, finding that the excluded testimony at issue is inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • May 06, 2025

    Georgia Enacts Measure Changing Discovery, Damages In Injury, Death Actions

    ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law a wide-ranging bill substantially amending how the state’s courts handle civil practice, discovery and tort liability in the state; the measure stays discovery when a party moves for dismissal prior to filing an answer, limits the ability of injured parties to argue at trial about the amount of noneconomic damages in bodily injury and wrongful death cases and limits the recovery of attorney fees.

  • May 05, 2025

    Family Can’t Secure New Trial In Rhode Island Asbestos Case

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — While the evidence could have supported a verdict in favor of a mesothelioma sufferer's family and there were some anomalies at trial, the plaintiffs largely failed to object, and the jury was not improperly influenced into finding for the a fiber supplier, a Rhode Island justice said in denying a new trial and judgment as a matter of law.

  • May 05, 2025

    Supreme Court Refuses Case About Jury Trial Sought in Camp Lejeune Water Crisis

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 5 refused to hear an appeal in which two individuals challenged a lower court’s decision that they are not entitled to a jury trial in their case against the U.S. government related to water contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

  • May 02, 2025

    Ala. Federal Judge: Expert Who Opines Defective Ladder Caused Injuries Excluded

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An Alabama federal judge on May 1 granted summary judgment to a ladder manufacturer after finding that testimony by an expert retained by a man who alleges that defects to the ladder caused him to be injured is inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • April 30, 2025

    Fisher-Price, Mattel: Del. Judge Erred In Admitting Experts Based On Other Case

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Fisher-Price Inc. and its corporate parent, Mattel Inc., are urging a Delaware state court to reconsider its denial of several motions seeking to exclude testimony from experts retained by a couple suing over the death of their daughter, who died after being placed in the now recalled Rock ’n Play Sleeper, arguing that the court erred in deferring and adopting decisions reached in another case involving the same product.

  • April 29, 2025

    Supreme Court To Hear Case Over Federal Jurisdiction In Tainted Baby Food Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 28 agreed to hear a case in which a baby food manufacturer says a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that a district court improperly denied remand to plaintiffs who had sued the company alleging that it contaminated its products with heavy metals “directly conflicts with decisions of other courts of appeals,” ignores Supreme Court precedent concerning federal jurisdiction and “egregiously wastes judicial and party resources with no apparent benefit.”

  • April 25, 2025

    Experts Allowed In Crash Suit, Judge Says, Also Ruling On What Can Be Said At Trial

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge ruled on a series of motions relating to the exclusion of expert testimony and other evidence in a lawsuit stemming from a car accident, with the judge finding that experts retained by a woman who alleges that she was injured can testify on the extent of her medical needs and the costs associated with that treatment.

  • April 25, 2025

    Judge Denies Motion To Exclude Medical Expert From Testifying On Inmate’s Injuries

    FRESNO, Calif. — An expert retained by a nurse in a civil rights violation case to opine on how a woman was injured while incarcerated can testify, a California federal judge ruled, though specifying that the expert cannot offer testimony that would be considered legal conclusions.

  • April 24, 2025

    Expert’s ChatGPT Usage Not Grounds To Exclude, Judge Says

    LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — An expert’s use of artificial intelligence ChatGPT to confirm his opinions in a product defect case does not warrant his exclusion nor does his lack of an engineering degree mean that he doesn’t qualify as an expert, a federal judge in New York said April 23 in denying a tool retailer’s motion.

  • April 22, 2025

    Experts Featured In Mealey's Daubert Report

    Entries are in alphabetical order of the expert in each area of expert testimony.  Experts appeared in the January, February, March and April 2025 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.

  • April 18, 2025

    Florida Panel Turns Away Tobacco Companies’ ‘Survivor’ Challenge To $2.1M Verdict

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal panel on April 17 affirmed a jury’s $2.1 million compensatory damages verdict to a smoker’s daughter, which was challenged by two tobacco companies on the grounds that the daughter is not the smoker’s “survivor” under the Wrongful Death Act and therefore is entitled to only $7,000.

  • April 17, 2025

    Petitioners: Supreme Court Must Hear Camp Lejeune Case To Resolve Pending Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two individuals who are challenging a lower court’s decision that they are not entitled to a jury trial in their case against the U.S. government related to water contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina have filed a reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that it should grant review of the ruling because the lead question in the matter is “central to resolving hundreds of thousands of pending claims under the Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA).”

  • April 15, 2025

    Arkansas Federal Judge Says Woman’s Experts Can Testify In Slip-And-Fall Case

    FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Two experts retained by a woman who alleges that she was injured after falling in an Outback Steakhouse restaurant can testify, an Arkansas federal judge held, finding that the company’s arguments for their exclusion went to weight and not admissibility under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • April 15, 2025

    Skechers Seeks Coverage For Injury Claims Caused By Shoes’ Lack Of Slip-Resistance

    LOS ANGELES — Skechers USA Inc. sued its commercial liability insurer in a California court for breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and unfair competition, alleging that the insurer has a duty to defend it against an underlying action contending that class members were harmed by actual physical accidents caused by the insured’s shoes’ lack of slip-resistance or by the fact that the shoes were unusable.

  • April 14, 2025

    Insured Dismisses 1 Insurer In Coverage Dispute Over Earplug Product Liability Claims

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Plaintiffs and one of their liability insurers filed in a Delaware court a stipulation and proposed order of voluntary dismissal with prejudice of all claims between them in a coverage lawsuit arising from an underlying earplug product liability multidistrict litigation that resulted in a $6 billion settlement and millions of dollars in defense costs.

  • April 14, 2025

    Attorneys General Urge Asbestos Trusts To Hold Off On Claim Document Destruction

    Attorneys general from 15 states in an April 11 letter to 10 asbestos bankruptcy trusts express their concern that the trusts’ document retention policies would result in the destruction of data detailing compensation payments and other documents about past claims that could be discoverable and relevant to ongoing and future litigation.

  • April 09, 2025

    COMMENTARY: The Ultimate Social Inflation Survival Guide: Containing Rising Claims Costs In A World Rife With Economic Inflation, Litigation Funding, Nuclear Verdicts, And Anti-Corporate Sentiment

    By Scott M. Seaman

  • April 10, 2025

    Mich. Appeals Court: No Error In Limiting Expert’s Testimony In Lawn Care Accident

    LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Court of Appeals on April 9 affirmed a defense verdict for a landscaping business accused of negligence that caused a man’s injuries, finding no error in the trial court’s decision to partially exclude portions of the man’s expert’s testimony.

  • April 10, 2025

    Widow Sues Medical Device Manufacturers, Alleges Defect Caused Husband’s Death

    JACKSON, Miss. — A widow sued the manufacturers of a device used during a heart catheterization procedure for wrongful death and other claims in a Mississippi federal court, alleging that the manufacturer knew that the device “had safety issues relative to preventing or detecting an air embolus.”

  • April 10, 2025

    Jury Awards More Than $3B In Damages For Injuries From Bottled Water Product

    LAS VEGAS — A Nevada jury has awarded a group of plaintiffs $3,078,585,000 in combined compensatory and punitive damages against Real Water Inc. and its affiliates for injuries caused by a product called “Real Water.”  The bottled drink was claimed to be healthier than regular water because it was “alkalized water infused with negative ions,” but in fact it caused liver damage as a result of elevated levels of toxins that made the product unsafe for human consumption.