Mealey's Personal Injury
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July 11, 2025
1 Expert In, Another Excluded In Case Filed By Former Inmate Over Medical Care
CHICAGO — An Illinois judge ruled on a pair of motions to exclude expert testimony in a case filed by a former inmate who alleges that the deliberate indifference by the staff at a correctional center caused him to suffer permanent liver damage.
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July 11, 2025
Judge Tosses Police Chase Personal Injury Suit Against Guaranty Association
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge dismissed with prejudice a suit against the New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association (NJPLIGA) and other parties filed by a pedestrian who claims that she was hit and injured as a result of a police chase that allegedly violated “all standard . . . procedures.”
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July 11, 2025
Cook County, Ill., Jury Returns Defense Verdict In Zantac Injury Case
CHICAGO — An Illinois jury returned a verdict for Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., rejecting arguments from a man who alleged that his prostate cancer was caused by ingesting over-the-counter Zantac.
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July 11, 2025
Depo-Provera MDL Judge: Disclose All Third-Party Litigation Funding Deals
PENSACOLA, Fla. — The Florida federal judge overseeing the Depo-Provera multidistrict litigation, a group of cases alleging that a long-lasting injectable contraceptive caused women to develop intracranial meningiomas, a type of brain tumor, ordered all plaintiffs and their counsel to disclose any third-party litigation funding agreements.
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July 10, 2025
Ky. Federal Judge Denies Series Of Motions To Exclude Experts In Pelvic Mesh Case
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky federal judge presiding over a long-running case against a pelvic mesh manufacturer denied three separate motions to exclude experts filed by the manufacturer and a woman who says she was injured by the mesh.
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July 10, 2025
Wash. Federal Judge Rules Experts Can Testify For Worker In FELA Injury Case
TACOMA, Wash. — Experts retained by a man who says he was injured after years of strenuous work on the railroad can testify, a Washington federal judge ruled, rejecting the railroad’s arguments that the expert’s testimony is inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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July 08, 2025
Expert’s Exclusion Dooms Design Defect Case Alleging Faulty Blender Exploded
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey federal judge granted a motion to exclude an expert’s testimony in a woman’s case alleging that a defectively designed blender exploded and caused injuries, further ruling that without expert testimony to prove causation, the manufacturer is entitled to summary judgment.
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July 08, 2025
Judge Won’t Consider Amicus Briefs In Deciding AI Speech Appeal Certification
ORLANDO, Fla. — Amicus curiae briefs are unhelpful in determining whether to certify an immediate appeal on the question of whether artificial intelligence chatbot outputs are protected speech, a federal judge in Florida said in a docket-only order denying a quartet of motions for leave to file amicus briefs in a case alleging that use of Character.AI led to a child’s suicide.
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July 07, 2025
California Jury Returns Defense Verdict In Asbestos Pipe Case
OAKLAND, Calif. — A California jury returned a verdict for a company battling an asbestos-pipe case, finding that while the company’s product contained potentially knowable risks, an ordinary customer would have recognized them and that the defendant’s failure to warn about them was not a substantial factor in the man’s mesothelioma.
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July 03, 2025
Plaintiffs Cross-Appeal As Monsanto Challenges $75M PCB Punitive Damages Award
SEATTLE — Plaintiffs who won a $75 million punitive damages award that was part of a combined verdict of $100 million for injuries from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) at a Seattle area school have filed notice of a cross-appeal in Washington state court, seeking cross-review of the final judgment and other rulings, in response to Monsanto’s appeal of the verdict.
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July 02, 2025
Magistrate Judge: Testimony Limited To Facts Disclosed In Expert Report, Deposition
MIAMI — A Florida federal magistrate judge ruled that experts retained by a man who alleges that he was rendered paraplegic due to a fall aboard a Carnival Corp. cruise ship cannot offer testimony based on opinions that were not disclosed in their expert witness reports or depositions but refused to exclude their testimony.
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June 27, 2025
Nondelegation Doctrine Not Violated By FCC Funding Scheme, Supreme Court Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 27 ruled 6-3 that a Federal Communications Commission subsidy program does not violate the doctrines of nondelegation or “private nondelegation,” finding that the FCC’s delegations were properly guided by an “intelligible principle” set forth by Congress and reversing the en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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June 27, 2025
Widow Defends $34M Verdict For 38-Year-Old Smoker’s Death As ‘Not About Race’
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The widow of a dead 38-year-old smoker urges a Florida appellate court in her answer brief to affirm the verdict and disregard a tobacco company’s arguments that the jury was inflamed by improper argument about “racial targeting,” writing that her case properly emphasized “fraudulent conduct” not “racism.”
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June 23, 2025
Expert Testimony Limited In Suit Over Carbon Monoxide Death After Vehicle Left On
ATLANTA — A Georgia federal judge ruled in a pair of orders that certain experts retained in a suit against Toyota Motor Corp. cannot testify in a design defect case filed by a woman whose husband died of carbon monoxide poisoning after leaving his vehicle running in a garage but denied a motion for summary judgment filed by the car maker.
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June 20, 2025
Judge: Expert Did Not Show Reliable Methodology In Calculating Economic Losses
SHERMAN, Texas — A retained expert’s “entire opinion is based on his own ipse dixit,” a Texas federal judge held, finding that a woman who was injured in a car accident cannot offer the expert’s testimony that her injuries will result in a lifetime economic loss of $643,513.
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June 20, 2025
Massachusetts Jury Awards $8 Million In J&J Talc Case
MIDDLESEX, Mass. — A Massachusetts jury awarded a woman $8 million for her mesothelioma, finding Johnson & Johnson and a related entity negligent and liable for breach of the implied warranty of merchantability with regard to two of its consumer talc products.
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June 19, 2025
Agency To Allocate $10M For Research Into Health Impact Of Ohio Train Derailment
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the aftermath of the chemical releases in East Palestine, Ohio, following the derailment of a train operated by Norfolk Southern Railway Corp., the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) on June 19 announced a plan to allocate up to $10 million over five years to fund awards to organizations to conduct a research study of long-term health concerns related to the chemical exposure in the community.
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June 19, 2025
Connecticut Judge To Hold Additional Argument On J&J Successor Liability Question
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A Connecticut judge considering punitive damages and motions for a new trial and judgment notwithstanding the verdict in the wake of a $15 million asbestos-talc award ordered parties to come up with dates for additional argument on the issue of successor liability for Johnson & Johnson, choice of law and the status of LLT Management LLC as a defendant.
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June 19, 2025
N.Y. Federal Judge Grants Gunmaker Summary Judgment After Excluding Expert
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge excluded testimony from an expert retained by a man who suffered an eye injury while shooting a Smith & Wesson revolver and granted the manufacturer summary judgment, finding that without that testimony, the man’s claims fail.
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June 16, 2025
10th Circuit Affirms Experts Properly Excluded In Gun Design Defect Case
DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 13 affirmed summary judgment for a gun manufacturer after finding that the experts retained by a man who accidentally shot himself while removing a handgun from its holster based their causation opinions on speculation and were properly excluded as inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
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June 16, 2025
$46.4M Jury Award To Jiu-Jitsu Student Stands As State High Court Denies Review
SAN FRANCISCO — A $46,475,112.33 California jury award to a man who suffered a spinal cord injury that rendered him paraplegic while training at a jiu-jitsu studio, which will become some $56 million with postjudgment interest due, will stand after the California Supreme Court denied a petition for review of the state appellate court decision upholding the verdict.
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June 13, 2025
Distributor Of Authorized Generic Drugs Dismissed From Depo-Provera MDL
PENSACOLA, Fla. — The Florida federal judge overseeing the Depo-Provera multidistrict litigation, a group of cases alleging that a long-lasting injectable contraceptive caused women to develop intracranial meningiomas, a type of brain tumor, on June 12 signed a stipulated order dismissing a generic drug distributor from all cases.
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June 13, 2025
Couple Seeks Damages For Kids’ Lead Poisoning Caused By Living In National Park
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A that couple has sued the U.S. government in Wyoming federal court contending that while they were living in government housing related to the husband’s employment at Yellowstone National Park, their two children developed lead poisoning. The couple says the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) is liable for money damages for personal injury under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA).
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June 12, 2025
Experts On Firearms, Suicide Risks Can Testify In Suit By Walmart Employee’s Family
GREENBELT, Md. — A Maryland federal magistrate judge agreed to limit testimony from experts retained by the family of a Walmart employee who killed himself with a gun he purchased at the Walmart where he worked, finding that the experts cannot offer legal conclusions or use specialized legal terminology in their testimony.
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June 11, 2025
Monsanto Appeals Denial Of Its Bid To Reduce $75M PCB Punitive Damages Award
SEATTLE — Monsanto has filed a notice in Washington state court that it is appealing a state court judge’s denial of its motion to reduce a $75 million punitive damages award that was part of a combined verdict of $100 million for injuries from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs) at a Seattle area school. In addition to the trial court’s final judgment on the ruling, Monsanto is appealing other decisions, including rulings on its bid for a new trial.