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

Mealey's Personal Injury

February 10, 2025
Justice Partly Amends Judgment For Smoker’s Death, Denies Claim Of Extreme ‘Bias’

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts state court justice on Feb. 7 agreed that a previously entered judgment worth more than $105 million in favor of the widower of a dead smoker should be amended to reduce the attorney fees award and recalculate the trebled damages award but otherwise maintained the judgment, which the tobacco company had in part claimed was evidence of “extreme bias.”
February 07, 2025
Amicus: High Court Review Needed In Camp Lejeune Case Over Right To Jury Trial

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bar association focused on the civil justice system has filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that it should grant a petition filed by plaintiffs 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 and seeking reversal of an appellate court’s subsequent refusal to entertain their appeal. The bar association argues that the denial of the plaintiffs’ right to a jury trial warrants review.
February 07, 2025
Survivors Of University Student Who Died In COVID-19 Isolation Renew Contract Claims

NEWARK, N.J. — The estate and parents of a college sophomore who died from an epileptic seizure while in COVID-19 isolation during the school year filed an amended complaint against a university on Feb. 6 alleging breach of contract and of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing after a New Jersey federal court dismissed wrongful death and negligence claims based on the statute of limitations and a fraudulent concealment claim and their original contract claims as deficiently pleaded.
February 07, 2025
Smoker’s Malpractice Settlement Precludes Widow’s Wrongful Death Suit, Panel Says

MIAMI — A Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal panel on Feb. 6 affirmed a trial court’s entry of summary judgment for a cigarette company on Engle claims brought against it by a widow for causing her husband’s lung cancer and death, which the trial court deemed precluded by the husband’s previous settlement of medical malpractice claims against his cancer doctor.
February 06, 2025
Smoker’s Daughter Waived Elder Juror Exclusion Challenge, Panel Says

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The First District Florida Court of Appeal on Feb. 5 affirmed a defense verdict rejecting a wrongful death suit brought by a deceased smoker’s daughter against two tobacco companies, writing that she failed to timely raise or preserve her objection to the fact that the trial court did not summon any potential jurors over the age of 70.
February 06, 2025
Helicopter Engine Maker Not Liable For Fatal Crash Involving Repaired Carburetor

MT. HOLLY, N.J. — Concluding that a helicopter engine manufacturer had not been involved in the repair of a carburetor during which allegedly defective parts were installed, a New Jersey judge granted the manufacturer’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by the survivor of a helicopter crash victim who alleged that the helicopter’s carburetor caused a malfunction that resulted in the crash.
February 06, 2025
‘Racial Targeting’ Argument Tainted $34 Million Verdict, Tobacco Company Says

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A tobacco company argues in an appellant brief filed in a Florida appellate court that a jury’s $34 million verdict against it for the death of a 38-year-old smoker with cancer that allegedly caused a brain hemorrhage should be reversed in part because the smoker’s estate made improper, inflammatory arguments that the company “‘targeted’ black males” with its marketing.
February 05, 2025
Reinsurer Wins Dismissal Of $844M Suit To Enforce Consent Judgments

MIAMI — A reinsurer won dismissal with prejudice of a case that sought to enforce approximately $844 million in consent judgments entered against an airline in connection with a 2016 plane crash, with a Florida judge ruling in part that “Florida law narrowly restricts the circumstances in which an insured can ever directly pursue claims against a reinsurer to facts that are not alleged here.”
January 31, 2025
11th Circuit Grants Joint Motion To Dismiss Appeals In Traffic Stop Death Case

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a joint motion to dismiss with prejudice the cross-appeals of a deceased motorist and the motorist’s injured passenger and a city and city police officer seeking review of several Alabama federal court rulings in a case involving a traffic stop and chase that culminated in a crash and shooting of the motorist and passenger by the officer.
January 29, 2025
Tobacco Company, Retailer Settle Wrongful Death Suit Brought By Widower

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A tobacco company, retailer and the widower of a dead smoker settled a wrongful death suit brought in Massachusetts state court by the widower the day after openings in the trial were held regarding the widower’s claims that they are liable for his wife’s death from lung cancer at age 59 after she got hooked on smoking when she was given free samples of cigarettes as a 14-year-old.
January 29, 2025
Judge: Discretionary Function Exception Does Not Apply To Flint Tort Claims Case

DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan on Jan. 28 denied the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss the Flint water crisis Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit pursuant to the discretionary function exception (DFE), ruling that the DFE is inapplicable to the “actions and inactions” of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in response to the Flint water crisis. The judge’s ruling addressed only the applicability of the DFE to the lawsuit.
January 28, 2025
Ohio Village, Norfolk Southern Settle Train Derailment Claims For $22 Million

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The village of East Palestine, Ohio, and Norfolk Southern Corp. on Jan. 27 jointly announced a $22 million settlement to resolve all claims brought by the village arising from the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in 2023 that released toxic chemicals into the environment, according to a news release posted on the village’s website. Litigation involving other parties in the train derailment remain active.
January 28, 2025
Mass. Justice Trebles Damages, Enters $105M Judgment For Smoker’s Cancer Death

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts state court justice entered judgment worth roughly $105 million in favor of the widower of a smoker who got hooked on cigarettes after being handed a free sample at age 12 and died from lung cancer at age 59, after adding attorney fees and interest to the jury’s $10.6 million verdict, then adding additional trebled damages due to the tobacco company’s “unfair and deceptive trade practices.”
January 28, 2025
Character.AI Defendants: Speech Concerns, Other Defects Doom Negligence Suit

ORLANDO, Fla. — The company behind Character.AI and various related parties urged a federal judge in Florida to dismiss a suit claiming its artificial intelligence led to a teen’s suicide, saying free speech, product liability law and jurisdictional issues all doom the action.
January 27, 2025
Experts Featured In Mealey's Daubert Report

Entries are ordered in alphabetical order of the expert in each area of expert testimony. Experts appeared in the January to December 2024 issues of Mealey’s Daubert Report.
January 27, 2025
No Error In Excluding Experts, Dismissing Claim In Suit Against Driver, Employer

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said a district court did not abuse its discretion in barring experts from testifying on the timing of inclement weather that a tractor-trailer driver encountered before a crash or in excluding expert testimony on whether the driver was acting within the standard of care.
January 24, 2025
New Jersey State Officials Have Qualified Immunity For Orders Addressing COVID-19

CAMDEN, N.J. — Concluding that that they were entitled to qualified immunity in their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to nursing homes, a New Jersey federal court granted a motion to dismiss by New Jersey’s governor and public health commissioner in a lawsuit by survivors of former nursing home residents who died from COVID-19.
January 24, 2025
SharkNinja Wins Final Judgment In Faulty Blender Case After Judge Excluded Expert

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana federal judge entered final judgment in favor of SharkNinja Operating LLC after finding that an expert retained by a woman who alleges that she was injured by a defective blender was excluded from testifying and the judge granted its motion for summary judgment.
January 24, 2025
Judge Nixes Company’s Bid To End Fracking Case, Says Material Questions Exist

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has denied an oil company’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit alleging it is liable for an injury sustained by a worker at a hydraulic fracturing well pad, ruling that “the self-serving evidence submitted by the parties is insufficient to show that there are no questions of material fact” in the case.
January 24, 2025
J&J, Man Awarded $15M By Connecticut Jury Debate Punitive Damages, Experts

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — In a quartet of briefs filed in a Connecticut court, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) entities and a mesothelioma sufferer who was awarded $15 million briefed the size of the award, what amount the court should award as punitive damages and whether the court properly admitted experts and instructed the jury.
January 16, 2025
Heart Pump Maker Says Wrongful Death Case Cannot Survive Preemption Argument

ST. LOUIS — A husband and daughter failed to allege how a surgically implanted heart pump was defectively designed or how that alleged defect caused a woman’s death, the manufacturer of the device argues in a reply brief to its motion for judgment on the pleadings, urging the Missouri federal court to find that the claims are preempted by federal law.
January 15, 2025
Seattle Jury Awards $100M To 4 Plaintiffs In School PCB Case Against Monsanto

SEATTLE — A jury in Washington state on Jan. 14 awarded four plaintiffs a total of $100 million in compensatory and punitive damages against Monsanto Co. in a trial over injuries allegedly caused by exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at a Seattle-area school. The plaintiffs had sought $4.14 billion in punitive damages.
January 14, 2025
High Court Declines To Review Denial Of Qualified Immunity In Prison COVID-19 Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 denied the petition for writ of certiorari of prison officials seeking review of a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision reversing a Michigan federal court’s dismissal of a prisoner’s civil rights complaint against the officials stemming from their management of the prison in response to COVID-19.
January 14, 2025
Mother Seeks $1.5M For Daughter’s Legionella Death Tied To Flint Water Crisis

DETROIT — The mother of a deceased woman has moved for approval of a $1.5 million settlement for the daughter’s wrongful death from Legionella exposure at a Flint, Mich., hospital that occurred in the wake of the lead-contaminated water crisis in that city.
January 14, 2025
Pennsylvania Judge Molds Verdict, Handing J&J Win In Asbestos-Talc Case

PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania judge molded an inconsistent verdict in favor of Johnson & Johnson, wrapping a more-than-monthlong trial that included a break for the holiday season by handing the company and various of its entities a defense verdict in the asbestos-talc case.