Product Liability

  • March 30, 2026

    Kimberly-Clark Slips Conn. Town's 'Speculative' PFAS Claims

    A proposed class action claiming Kimberly-Clark Corp. polluted a Connecticut town's water and soil with toxic "forever chemicals" failed to allege plausible facts tying the contamination or any injuries to the paper goods maker, relying instead on assumptions and guesswork, a federal judge has ruled in dismissing the case.

  • March 30, 2026

    Nearby Polluters Must Face Gowanus Canal Cleanup Suit

    A New York federal judge on Sunday declined to dismiss a lawsuit brought by National Grid seeking to force 40 other parties accused of polluting Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal to pay their share of the Superfund cleanup costs.

  • March 30, 2026

    Expedia Looks To Escape Suit Over Carbon Monoxide Deaths

    Expedia has sought to escape a suit over the carbon monoxide poisoning deaths of three young women at a Belize resort allegedly due to a poorly installed water heater, telling a Massachusetts federal court it had no duty to warn customers about potential dangers at the hotels listed on its website.

  • March 30, 2026

    BNSF Says 9th Circ. Opinion Nixes Montana Asbestos Case

    BNSF Railway Co. asked a Montana federal court Monday to throw out a lawsuit alleging it let dust from asbestos-containing vermiculite accumulate at its rail yard in Libby, Montana, arguing that a recent Ninth Circuit case showed the claims are preempted by federal law and blocked by the common carrier exception.

  • March 30, 2026

    Judge Tosses ESA Challenge Against Nevada Lithium Mine

    A Nevada federal judge says the federal government didn't violate the Endangered Species Act in approving a more than 7,100-acre lithium mining project that conservation groups argue will drive a rare wildflower into extinction, finding the decision was not arbitrary or capricious under recent Supreme Court precedent.

  • March 30, 2026

    Bai Beverage Maker Quenches False Ad Suit Over Sweetener

    Bai Brands permanently defeated a putative class action alleging it deceived consumers into thinking its beverages contained "no artificial sweeteners" despite being sweetened with erythritol, after a New York federal judge found no evidence of how reasonable consumers would define "artificial." 

  • March 30, 2026

    GE Fails To Nix Suit Over Stove Fire From Alleged Defect

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has rejected GE Appliances' request to toss most of a suit alleging that one of its stove ranges was defectively designed and led to a fire when it was accidentally turned on, finding that a jury could reasonably agree with the plaintiff's experts' assessment of events.

  • March 30, 2026

    Kratom Addictiveness 9th Circ. Appeal Dropped

    A group of consumers told the Ninth Circuit on Friday that they were dropping the appeal of a dismissal of their suit over kratom products that they said were as addictive as opioids.

  • March 27, 2026

    Tech Critics See Hope In Social Media Verdicts

    The courts are emerging as the forum to hold social media giants accountable for their algorithms now that two multimillion-dollar jury verdicts determined the platforms are harming the mental health of young people, after years of being unchecked by Congress.

  • March 27, 2026

    Elizabeth Holmes Gets 11-Year Prison Sentence Cut By A Year

    A California federal judge has shaved off a year from convicted ex-Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes' 11-year-and-three-month prison sentence for securities fraud due to recent sentencing guideline amendments, reducing her time behind bars by one year, instead of the two years she requested, amid objections by prosecutors.

  • March 27, 2026

    Segway Scooter Recall Claims Must Be Arbitrated, Judge Rules

    Segway successfully pushed into arbitration claims that it built an electric scooter with a dangerous defect that caused the handlebars to collapse mid-ride, after a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled the buyer failed to opt out of a "shrinkwrap" agreement on the scooters' packaging.

  • March 27, 2026

    Honda System Not 'Perfect,' But Also Not Defective, Jury Told

    Honda's collision avoidance system, while not "perfect," should not be considered defective under industry standards, an attorney for the automaker's U.S. arm told a California federal court jury Friday during closing arguments in a class action over claims by 100,000-plus drivers that the system caused dangerously abrupt stops.

  • March 27, 2026

    Uber Crash Liability Case Review Denied By Texas High Court

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday declined to review a case brought by passengers injured in a car crash during a trip arranged through Uber Technologies Inc.'s app, leaving intact a lower court ruling rejecting their liability claims and finding that the company's drivers are independent contractors under state law.

  • March 27, 2026

    Uber Again Says It's A Tech Co., Not A Transportation Provider

    Uber is once again fighting efforts to frame it as a transportation provider that owes a duty of safety to passengers, telling the California federal court overseeing multidistrict litigation over sexual assault liability that it only operates a technology platform.

  • March 27, 2026

    Delaware Judge Lets Juul Suits Proceed, Trims Claims

    Delaware Superior Court has largely allowed a set of lawsuits against Juul Labs Inc. to move forward, rejecting the company's bid to dismiss claims brought by more than a thousand plaintiffs who say they were misled about the risks of its e-cigarettes.

  • March 27, 2026

    Eli Lilly Keeps Most Of Weight Loss Drug Copy Suit Alive

    A California federal judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit accusing a pair of telehealth companies of making copies of Eli Lilly's obesity and type 2 diabetes drugs but agreed to trim the case.

  • March 27, 2026

    Audi Door Lock Defect Trapped Infant In Back Seat, Suit Says

    Electronic door-locking systems in dozens of Audi models intermittently fail to lock or unlock, according to a proposed class action in California federal court, in which a driver alleged the defect once left his infant son trapped in the back seat of his car.

  • March 27, 2026

    Texas Justices Order New Trial In Crane Breakage Suit

    The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ordered a new trial in a suit alleging a contractor failed to properly repair a crane, saying the trial court abused its discretion by denying the contractor's bid to substitute an expert when its original choice left the state and refused to testify shortly before trial.

  • March 27, 2026

    6th Circ. Won't Revive Ky. Bourbon-Makers' Fight Over A 'First'

    A Kentucky distillery that claims to be the first African American-owned company to make bourbon at its own facility in the Bluegrass State can't revive its false advertising lawsuit against another distiller claiming the same distinction, the Sixth Circuit ruled in a Thursday published opinion.

  • March 27, 2026

    Gun Buyer Says Trigger Guard Doesn't Nix No-Safety Suit

    A gun buyer leading a proposed class action alleging that Sig Sauer Inc.'s P320 pistol is dangerously defective is urging a Washington federal court not to throw out his claims, saying the presence of a trigger guard doesn't negate the complaint's claim that the gun lacks external safety features.

  • March 27, 2026

    Amazon Swaps MoFo In, Perkins Coie Out In Cooker Suit

    Amazon.com LLP switched counsel Friday in a customer's product defect suit accusing the retail giant of selling a faulty pressure cooker that allegedly malfunctioned and caused her severe burns, substituting two Morrison Foerster LLP attorneys in place of an outgoing Perkins Coie LLP lawyer.

  • March 27, 2026

    Insurer Rips Sanctions Bid In Opioid Coverage Dispute

    An insurer asked an Illinois federal court to reject a drug wholesaler's bid for sanctions in a dispute over coverage for underlying opioid litigation, saying the accusations that it intentionally destroyed pertinent evidence are, "at best, based on half-truths and misstatements of fact."

  • March 27, 2026

    NJ Federal Judge DQs Beasley Allen In J&J Talc MDL

    A New Jersey federal judge has disqualified the Beasley Allen Law Firm from representing hundreds of plaintiffs in sprawling multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder, holding that the firm violated ethics rules by collaborating with former outside counsel for J&J, a ruling the law firm has vowed to appeal.

  • March 26, 2026

    Smith & Wesson Brass Beat Catholic Investors' Suit, For Now

    A Nevada federal judge dismissed a shareholder derivative suit brought by groups of Catholic sisters against members of Smith & Wesson's board and senior managers over the firearm-maker's AR-15 rifles marketing, finding the plaintiffs hadn't shown it would have been futile to demand the board pursue such legal action.

  • March 26, 2026

    Ill. Judge Tosses 'Baseless' THC Potency Suit

    Illinois cannabis regulators are not so "incompetent on an elementary level" as to be duped into allowing Acreage Holdings Inc. and other companies to mislabel vape products in a way that lets them skirt state-imposed THC-potency limits, a federal court ruled, tossing as "baseless" a consumer-led proposed class action.

Expert Analysis

  • Attys Beware: Generative AI Can Also Hallucinate Metadata

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    In addition to the well-known problem of AI-generated hallucinations in legal documents, AI tools can also hallucinate metadata — threatening the integrity of discovery, the reliability of evidence and the ability to definitively identify the provenance of electronic documents, say attorneys at Law & Forensics.

  • When Atty Ethics Violations Give Rise To Causes Of Action

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    Though the Model Rules of Professional Conduct make clear that a violation of the rules does not automatically create a cause of action, attorneys should beware of a few scenarios in which they could face lawsuits for ethical lapses, says Brian Faughnan at Faughnan Law.

  • Justices' LabCorp Punt Leaves Deeper Class Cert. Circuit Split

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    In its ruling in LabCorp v. Davis, the U.S. Supreme Court left unresolved a standing-related class certification issue that has plagued class action jurisprudence for years — and subsequent conflicting decisions among federal circuit courts have left district courts and litigants struggling with conflicting and uncertain standards, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • 10 Quick Tips To Elevate Your Evidence Presentation At Trial

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    A strong piece of evidence, whether in the form of testimony or exhibit, is wasted if not presented effectively, so attorneys must prepare with precision to help fact-finders both retain the information and internalize its significance, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

  • Series

    Practicing Stoicism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Practicing Stoicism, by applying reason to ignore my emotions and govern my decisions, has enabled me to approach challenging situations in a structured way, ultimately providing advice singularly devoted to a client's interest, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Texas, One Year In

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    A year after the Texas Business Court's first decision, it's clear that Texas didn't just copy Delaware and instead built something uniquely its own, combining specialization with constitutional accountability and creating a model that looks forward without losing touch with the state's democratic and statutory roots, says Chris Bankler at Jackson Walker.

  • AI Product Safety Insights May Expand Foreseeability

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    Product liability law has long held that companies are responsible for risks they knew about or should have known about — and with AI systems now able to assess and predict hazards during the design process, companies should expect that courts will likely treat such hazards as foreseeable, says Donald Fountain at Clark Fountain.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Educating Your Community

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    Nearly two decades prosecuting scammers and elder fraud taught me that proactively educating the public about the risks they face and the rights they possess is essential to building trust within our communities, empowering otherwise vulnerable citizens and preventing wrongdoers from gaining a foothold, says Roger Handberg at GrayRobinson.

  • How A 9th Circ. False Ad Ruling Could Shift Class Certification

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    The Ninth Circuit's July decision in Noohi v. Johnson & Johnson, holding that unexecuted damages models may suffice for purposes of class certification, has the potential to create judicial inefficiencies and crippling uncertainties for class action defendants, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • 5 Crisis Lawyering Skills For An Age Of Uncertainty

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    As attorneys increasingly face unprecedented and pervasive situations — from prosecutions of law enforcement officials to executive orders targeting law firms — they must develop several essential competencies of effective crisis lawyering, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.

  • Compliance Tips Amid Rising FTC Scrutiny Of Minors' Privacy

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    The Federal Trade Commission has recently rolled out multiple enforcement actions related to children's privacy, highlighting a renewed focus on federal regulation of minors' personal information and the evolving challenges of establishing effective, privacy-protective age assurance solutions, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Insights From Recent Cases On Navigating Snap Removal

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    Snap removal, which allows defendants to transfer state court cases to federal court before a forum defendant is properly joined and served, is viewed differently across federal circuits — but keys to making it work can be drawn from recent decisions critiquing the practice, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For The Judiciary To Fix Its Cybersecurity Problem

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    After recent reports that hackers have once again infiltrated federal courts’ electronic case management systems, the judiciary should strengthen its cybersecurity practices in line with executive branch standards, outlining clear roles and responsibilities for execution, says Ilona Cohen at HackerOne.

  • Tips For Cos. Crafting Enforceable Online Arbitration Clauses

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    Recent rulings from the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California indicate that courts are carefully examining the enforceability of online arbitration clauses, so businesses should review the design of their websites and consider specific language next to the "purchase" button, say attorneys at DTO Law.

  • Identifying The Sources And Impacts Of Juror Contamination

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    Jury contamination can be pervasive, so it is important that trial teams be able to spot its sources and take specific mitigation steps, says consultant Clint Townson.

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