Mealey's Personal Injury
-
February 10, 2026
Auto Insurer Disputes Coverage For Wrongful Death Suit Against Delivery Driver
SEATTLE — A commercial automobile insurer filed suit in a Washington federal court seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify for an underlying wrongful death lawsuit alleging that its insured fatally shot a man while he was driving his vehicle as a paid delivery driver, asserting that the underlying action fails to allege any claim for damages “resulting from the ownership, maintenance or use” of the insured’s automobile as required by the policy and Washington law.
-
February 09, 2026
Louisiana Panel: Assault And Battery Exclusion Bars Coverage For Shooting Death
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana appeals panel held that a commercial general liability insurance policy’s assault and battery exclusion unambiguously bars coverage for a wrongful death lawsuit arising from a fatal shooting that occurred at an apartment that was owned by the insured, affirming a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the insurer.
-
February 06, 2026
New Mexico High Court Says Strike Of Expert Affidavit Not Discovery Sanction
SANTA FE, N.M. — The New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed a trial court’s ruling striking a late-filed expert affidavit in a medical negligence case and its subsequent grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants for lack of causation but on different grounds than the intermediate appellate court, finding that the trial court’s action was not a discovery sanction but instead an exercise of “its authority to enforce a scheduling order.”
-
February 05, 2026
Illinois Federal Judge Finds Claims Against Spinal Implant Maker Preempted
CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge agreed to dismiss claims against the makers of a spinal implant after finding that the claims asserted against them in a medical malpractice suit are preempted by federal law.
-
February 05, 2026
Florida Supreme Court Won’t Review Smoker’s Estate’s ‘Random Jury Box’ Appeal
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court denied a petition for review of an appellate court’s affirmance of a defense verdict against a tobacco company. The estate of a smoker who died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) had sought review on the grounds that the trial court utilized the “random jury box method” for voir dire.
-
February 04, 2026
Florida Jury Returns Defense Verdict In Sickly Smoker’s Defect Design Lawsuit
MIAMI — A Florida state court jury returned a defense verdict in a lawsuit against Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM) brought by a former smoker of Parliament and Marlboro-brand cigarettes who says he suffers from heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), writing that PM’s cigarettes were defectively designed but also finding that they did not legally cause the smoker’s health issues.
-
February 02, 2026
Florida Panel Reverses Damages Order In Mobile App Car Sharing Accident Dispute
LAKELAND, Fla. — A Florida appellate court on Jan. 30 reversed and remanded a lower court’s ruling granting a motion to amend a complaint to add punitive damages to a negligence suit against a mobile app-based car sharing company and the owner of a rented vehicle, finding that the plaintiffs failed to meet their burden under Florida law to recover punitive damages and show that the company was grossly negligent .
-
January 30, 2026
Wash. Federal Judge Says Safety Expert Can Testify In Slip-And-Fall Case
SEATTLE — An expert retained by a woman who says she was injured after slipping in a bank’s parking lot can testify, but his testimony will be limited to topics he previously disclosed in his expert report, a Washington federal judge held Jan. 29.
-
January 30, 2026
Government Says Vacatur Of Tobacco Graphic Warnings Rule Was Improper
MIAMI — The Food and Drug Administration and related parties filed an appellant brief in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging a federal judge’s vacatur of the FDA’s final rule requiring graphic warnings on all tobacco products pursuant to the Tobacco Control Act (TCA), writing that the ruling was improperly based on its failure to disclose raw data underlying studies regarding the efficacy of graphic warnings.
-
January 28, 2026
Airline Crew Seeks $30M Each In Damages From Airbus Inc. For Chemical Injuries
NEW YORK — Two women who are members of an aircraft flight crew have sued Airbus Americas Inc. and an affiliate in New York federal court arguing that they were injured while working on an airplane as a result of a malfunction with what is called the “bleed air system.” The plaintiffs allege that they have suffered neurological injuries as well as other impairments that are characteristic of chemical exposure.
-
January 27, 2026
Judge: Genetic Experts May Opine Only On General Causation In Asbestos Case
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana judge partially granted a man’s motion in limine challenging two experts, saying they may offer general causation opinions on the role genetics played in mesothelioma but not opinions about the specific cause of the man’s disease.
-
January 27, 2026
Texas Appeals Court Reverses Med-Mal Defense Verdict, Says Expert Wrongly Excluded
EL PASO, Texas — A Texas appeals court remanded a medical malpractice case for a new trial after finding that a woman’s expert on the standard of care was wrongly excluded from testifying.
-
January 26, 2026
3rd Circuit Affirms Qualified Immunity Grant In COVID-19 Nursing Home Deaths Case
PHILADELPHIA — Ruling that survivors of former nursing home residents who died from COVID-19 failed to show that New Jersey’s governor and public health commissioner were on notice that their actions in handling the pandemic with respect to nursing homes would violate the residents’ statutory or constitutional rights, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 23 affirmed a New Jersey federal court’s dismissal of the survivors’ lawsuit on the basis of qualified immunity.
-
January 26, 2026
Federal Magistrate Judge Recommends Excluding Expert In Injury Case As Unreliable
LAS VEGAS — A federal magistrate judge in Nevada recommended that an expert retained by a woman who alleges that she was injured in a Target store be barred from testifying because his opinions are unreliable under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc.
-
January 26, 2026
7th Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment For Lawnmower Maker, Allows Expert Testimony
CHICAGO — A trial court did not consider opinions by an expert witness hired by a woman who was injured in a riding lawnmower accident who opined that an independent brake could have prevented the accident, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled, reversing summary judgment for the lawnmower manufacturer and remanding the case.
-
January 22, 2026
Mother Claims ChatGPT Twisted Son’s Favorite Book, Design Complicit In Suicide
LOS ANGELES — A man turned to OpenAI entities’ ChatGPT for consolation after a difficult breakup, but it quickly turned his favorite book into a story about letting go and romanticized suicide despite his insistence that he was happy to be alive, his mother alleges in a Los Angeles County Superior Court lawsuit.
-
January 22, 2026
Federal Judge Agrees To Remand CoolSculpting Case, Allow Defendants To Be Added
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge granted a man’s motion for joinder and remand in a case alleging that he was severely burned and scarred as a result of a CoolSculpting treatment, rejecting arguments from the manufacturers that the man failed to amend his complaint to add the treating doctor and facility.
-
January 21, 2026
Hawaii Judge Denies New Trial For Smoker’s Estate After $0 Judgment
KONA, Hawaii — A Hawaii state judge issued a ruling denying a smoker’s estate’s motion to vacate a jury’s general damages award and for a new trial on damages, finding the jury’s $0 general damages verdict was “consistent” with the evidence presented at trial regarding the smoker’s pain and suffering from various illnesses including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
-
January 21, 2026
Goodyear Hit With $12.5M Judgment In Louisiana Mesothelioma Case
NEW ORLEANS — A judge in Louisiana entered judgment in favor of a mesothelioma sufferer and against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. for more than $12.5 million after finding it liable for exposing the office manager to asbestos in brake products.
-
January 20, 2026
$39.9M Settlement Made After Part Of Jury Award Tossed In Struck Pedestrian Case
LOS ANGELES — After a California judge ordered a new trial or a $22 million reduction to a jury award of future noneconomic damages to a man who has been in a coma since he was struck by a city garbage truck, the parties reached an agreement that provides a total personal injury award of $23.4 million to the injured man and $16.5 million to his six children as settlement for their future wrongful death claims.
-
January 16, 2026
No Indemnification Owed For $300,000 Personal Injury Judgment, Panel Says, Reverses
BOSTON — A Massachusetts appeals court on Jan. 15 held that a homeowners insurer owes no indemnification for an underlying $300,000 personal injury judgment, reversing a lower court in concluding that the man who the underlying judgment was awarded against is not a member of his grandmother’s household and, as a result, is not insured under the policy at issue.
-
January 15, 2026
Defense Expert Improperly Excluded In Fla. Slip-And-Fall Case; $5.5M Verdict Tossed
MIAMI — An expert for Walgreens Co. who opined that a woman who fell in a store may have had a seizure due to alcohol withdrawal was improperly excluded, a Florida appeals court held Jan. 14, reversing a more than $5 million verdict in a slip-and-fall case and remanding the case for a new trial.
-
January 15, 2026
Cancer Sufferers File 3 Cases Against Monsanto Alleging Fraud Related To Roundup
WILMINGTON, Del. — Three people with cancer filed nearly identical lawsuits on Jan. 14 in Delaware state court asserting that Monsanto Co. fraudulently represented that independent scientists have concluded that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, is safe. One plaintiff, James O’Brien Jr., argues that Monsanto’s “intentional, grossly negligent, wanton, willful, and reckless conduct warrants” punitive damages.
-
January 15, 2026
Airbnb Denies Liability For Carbon Monoxide Injuries At Rental Property
SAN FRANCISCO — Airbnb Inc. has filed an answer in California federal court denying all claims brought by a family that alleges they were poisoned by carbon monoxide (CO) during a stay at a property they rented through the online platform. Airbnb also asserts affirmative defenses, contending that the family is not entitled to punitive damages because the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
-
January 15, 2026
Texas Federal Judge: Expert In RV Injury Case Out For Unreliable Methodology
SHERMAN, Texas — A Texas federal judge found that a woman who sued over injuries she sustained when a wooden panel fell from a recreational vehicle failed to show that “it is more likely than not that” her expert’s opinions are based on a reliable methodology and granted a motion to exclude.