Product Liability

  • March 30, 2026

    Penn National Needn't Cover $2.2M Lead-Paint Tort Judgment

    Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co. has no obligation to cover a $2.2 million judgment won by a man alleging he was exposed to lead-based paint at a Baltimore property where he resided when he was a child, a Maryland federal judge has ruled.

  • March 30, 2026

    Product Liability Q1 Regulatory Roundup

    In the first three months of 2026, executive orders and other regulatory actions by the Trump administration have taken on products with "Made in America" labeling, called for the increased manufacture of the herbicide ingredient glyphosate, and addressed what e-cigarette flavors could receive the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval, among others.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Key False Claims Act Trends From The Last Year

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    The False Claims Act remains a powerful enforcement tool after some record verdicts and settlements in 2025, and while traditional fraud areas remain a priority, new initiatives are raising questions about its expanding application, says Veronica Nannis at Joseph Greenwald.

  • Reel Justice: 'Die My Love' And The Power Of Visuals At Trial

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    The powerful use of imagery to capture the protagonist’s experience of postpartum depression in “Die My Love” reminds attorneys that visuals at trial can persuade jurors more than words alone, so they should strategically wield a new federal evidence rule allowing for illustrative aids, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University.

  • Opinion

    It's Too Soon To Remove Suicide Warnings From GLP-1 Drugs

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision this month to order removal of warnings about the risk of suicidal thoughts from GLP-1 weight-loss drugs is premature — and from a safety and legal standpoint, the downside of acting too soon could be profound, says Sean Domnick at Rafferty Domnick.

  • Series

    Hosting Exchange Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Opening my home to foreign exchange students makes me a better lawyer not just because prioritizing visiting high schoolers forces me to hone my organization and time management skills but also because sharing the study-abroad experience with newcomers and locals reconnects me to my community, says Alison Lippa at Nicolaides Fink.

  • FDA's 2025 Enforcement Scorecard Highlights Data Focus

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's increased enforcement activity in 2025 was driven by artificial intelligence and a focus on foreign manufacturers, necessitating proactive compliance strategies for an environment that is increasingly reliant on data, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • How A 1947 Tugboat Ruling May Shape Work Product In AI Era

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    Rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence test work-product principles first articulated in the U.S. Supreme Court’s nearly 80-year-old Hickman v. Taylor decision, as courts and ethics bodies confront whether disclosure of attorneys’ AI prompts and outputs would reveal their thought processes, say Larry Silver and Sasha Burton at Langsam Stevens.

  • Navigating Privilege Law Patchwork In Dual-Purpose Comms

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    Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to resolve a circuit split in In re: Grand Jury, federal courts remain split as to when attorney-client privilege applies to dual-purpose legal and business communications, and understanding the fragmented landscape is essential for managing risks, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 5 Advertising Law Trends That Will Shape 2026

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    The legal landscape for advertisers will grow only more complex this year, with ongoing trends including a federal regulatory retreat, more aggressive action by the states, a focus on child privacy and expanded scrutiny of "natural" claims, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Series

    Fly-Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Much like skilled attorneys, the best anglers prize preparation, presentation and patience while respecting their adversaries — both human and trout, says Rob Braverman at Braverman Greenspun.

  • 4 Ways GCs Can Manage Growing Service Of Process Volume

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    As automation and arbitration increase the volume of legal filings, in-house counsel must build scalable service of process systems that strengthen corporate governance and manage risk in real time, says Paul Mathews at Corporation Service Co.

  • Series

    The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Forming Measurable Ties

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    Relationship-building should begin as early as possible in a law firm merger, as intentional pathways to bringing people together drive collaboration, positive client response, engagements and growth, says Amie Colby at Troutman.

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2026 And Beyond

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    2026 will likely be shaped by issues ranging from artificial intelligence regulatory turbulence to potential evidence rule changes, and e-discovery professionals will need to understand how to effectively guide the responsible and defensible adoption of emerging tools, while also ensuring effective safeguards, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Streamlining Product Liability MDLs With AI And Rule 16.1

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    With newly effective Rule 16.1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure providing enhanced guidance on multidistrict litigation and the sophistication of artificial intelligence continuing to advance, parties have the opportunity to better confront the significant data challenges presented by product liability MDLs, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Boost Access To Justice

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    Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Samuel A. Thumma writes that generative artificial intelligence tools offer a profound opportunity to enhance access to justice and engender public confidence in courts’ use of technology, and judges can seize this opportunity in five key ways.

  • Opinion

    The Case For Emulating, Not Dividing, The Ninth Circuit

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    Champions for improved judicial administration should reject the unfounded criticisms driving recent Senate proposals to divide the Ninth Circuit and instead seek to replicate the court's unique strengths and successes, says Ninth Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace.

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