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Mealey's Personal Injury

  • October 17, 2025

    Delaware Judge Tosses Suit Against Snap, Verizon, Apple Related To Assault Of Child

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware state court judge dismissed with prejudice a suit filed by a woman and her daughter against Snap Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Apple Inc. and the man convicted of sexually assaulting the daughter after communicating with her on Snapchat, asserting that the corporate defendants played “a critical role in facilitating the harm,” finding that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) provides immunity for the “third-party communications” between the man and the daughter.

  • October 17, 2025

    Federal Judge In Okla. Says Expert Can Testify In Suit Alleging Man Died In Custody

    OKLAHOMA CITY — An emergency room physician can opine on whether a jail’s staff met the medical needs of a man who died in custody but cannot offer legal conclusions, a judge held in Oklahoma federal court.

  • October 16, 2025

    OpenAI Says Hawaii Man’s Complaints About AI Not Grounds For Injunction

    HONOLULU — A man’s allegations about potential future harms Hawaii faces from artificial intelligence do not suffice for injury purposes and are at best not redressable by enjoining OpenAI Inc. from operating in the state, the company told a federal judge.

  • October 15, 2025

    High Court Will Address Whether Freight Brokers May Be Sued For Negligent Hiring

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a person injured in a truck crash to address the question of whether a common-law action for negligent selection, including negligent hiring, of a motor carrier or driver by a freight broker is preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA), which preempts state laws related to a service of a broker with respect to the transportation of property but does not restrict the safety regulatory authority of states with respect to motor vehicles.

  • October 15, 2025

    1 Of Several Doctors Dropped From COVID-Era Connecticut Malpractice Claim

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — In a medical malpractice lawsuit alleging that a patient’s head injury was misdiagnosed as gastroenteritis during the COVID-19 pandemic, the patient withdrew her complaint against one of the physicians who attended to her in a Connecticut hospital.

  • October 15, 2025

    California Governor Vetoes 1 Chatbot Safety Measure As Other AI Bills Become Law

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill imposing some restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence and providing some civil penalties for noncompliance while vetoing a more restrictive chatbot measure that would have required such technology to be unable to encourage self-harm, suicidal ideation, violence, the use of illegal substances or disordered eating.

  • October 14, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Review Grindr User’s Claims Of ‘Wrong’ Ruling In CDA Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 14 denied a petition for certiorari filed by an individual alleging that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was “wrong” in affirming a lower court’s ruling dismissing with prejudice as barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) the man’s negligence, product liability and federal sex trafficking suit against the operators of the Grindr app, Grindr Inc. and Grindr LLC, related to injuries the man sustained while using the app.

  • October 13, 2025

    Derailment Class Counsel: Plaintiffs’ Motions Objecting To Settlement ‘Improper’

    YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The class counsel in a lawsuit against railroad company Norfolk Southern Corp. related to the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, filed a response brief on Oct. 10 in Ohio federal court arguing that the court should deny motions filed by two groups of plaintiffs seeking relief from an order granting final approval to a $600 million settlement, contending that the motions are “nothing more than an improper repetition of objections already overruled by the Court.”

  • October 13, 2025

    Couple: New Trial Motion Coming After Defense Verdict In Asbestos-Pipe Case

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A couple whose asbestos-pipe case a California jury rejected earlier this year filed notice on Oct. 10 stating that they intend to move for a new trial, citing irregularities in the proceedings and errors of law that led a jury to find that a company’s product performed as a consumer would expect and that the company was not negligent.

  • October 13, 2025

    Dead Smoker’s Estate Wins $12M After Massachusetts Jury Trial

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A jury in Massachusetts state court awarded $1 million in compensatory damages and $11 million in punitive damages, split between two tobacco companies, after rejecting the widow’s defective design claims but finding in favor of the widow on fraud-based claims relating to the tobacco companies’ material misrepresentations that her late husband relied upon before switching to filtered cigarettes, later being diagnosed with lung cancer and dying at age 55.

  • October 13, 2025

    Hawaii Jury Awards $350K To Estate Of Dead Smoker

    KONA, Hawaii — A jury in Hawaii state court on Oct. 10 awarded $350,000 in compensatory damages to the estate of a smoker who died at 68 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) after smoking for nearly 50 years, split fault between the smoker and tobacco company R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (RJR) and rejected claims that retailers were in the “chain of distribution.” VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.

  • October 13, 2025

    Finding ‘No Coverage,’ Florida Panel Affirms Judgment For Insurer In Collision Row

    MIAMI — A Florida appellate court affirmed a lower court’s judgment for an insurer in a dispute over coverage for injuries its insured purportedly sustained in an auto accident, finding that there was “no coverage” because evidence in the lower court showed “that the Insured made a material misrepresentation” regarding his address on his policy application.

  • October 10, 2025

    Los Angeles Seeks New Trial After Jury Awards $48.8M To Man Struck By City Truck

    LOS ANGELES — After a trial conducted solely on the question of damages because the city of Los Angeles stipulated to its liability, the city moved for a reduction of a $48.8 million verdict or, in the alternative, a new trial after the jury found in favor of a man who has been in a coma since he was struck by a city garbage truck.

  • October 09, 2025

    Judge: Expert Can Testify On Certain Topics In Construction Site Injury Case

    MONROE, La. — An expert can opine on what caused a scaffolding system to collapse at a construction site, leading to an injury, a Louisiana federal judge held, but the judge limited his testimony to topics beyond a juror’s understanding.

  • October 07, 2025

    High Court Won’t Address Whether Uber Had Duty Of Care Toward Driver Or Customer

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied the petition for writ of certiorari of a rideshare company seeking review of a pair of Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decisions reversing federal district court rulings that the company did not owe a duty of care to two victims, one a victim of rape by someone posing as a rideshare driver and the other a victim of murder by rideshare customers.

  • October 07, 2025

    Woman Says Dupixent Caused T-Cell Lymphoma, Death Of Her Mother, Sues Drugmakers

    NASHVILLE — A daughter has sued the manufacturers of Dupixent, a prescription medication used for the treatment of asthma and inflammatory skin conditions, in a Tennessee federal court, alleging that her mother died of T-cell lymphoma that was caused by the injection of the drug and that the drugmakers failed to warn about the risk.

  • October 03, 2025

    Hawaii Smoker May Seek Punitive Damages For Personal Harm Only, Judge Says

    LIHUE, Hawaii — A Hawaii state judge granted in part and denied in part two tobacco companies’ motion to dismiss a personal injury lawsuit filed against them by a smoker with bladder cancer and his wife, dismissing the smoker’s claim for fraud and partly dismissing his claim for punitive damages, writing that the smoker may seek punitives for “harm to himself,” but not harm to “society.”

  • October 02, 2025

    Judge Awards $10 Million In Punitive Damages In J&J Asbestos-Talc Case

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A Connecticut judge on Oct. 1 added $10 million in punitive damages to a $15 million verdict, saying the evidence showed that the company employed sub-standard testing and choose to accept only evidence that supported the conclusion that its products were free of asbestos.

  • September 25, 2025

    Oral Arguments Held In Appeal Of $475K Punitive Award For Smoker’s Estate

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Attorneys representing a tobacco company urged the Fourth District Florida Court of Appeal during oral arguments on Sept. 24 to reverse or order remittitur of a $475,000 punitive damages verdict awarded in favor of the estate of a dead smoker, arguing that the award is excessive because it is 11 times greater than the compensatory damages the estate was awarded.

  • September 25, 2025

    Character Technologies Facing 3 More Suits Over Chatbots’ Harm To Minors

    Character Technologies Inc., its founders and related companies were hit with a trio of strict liability and negligence lawsuits claiming that the company’s artificial intelligence chatbots caused mental and physical harm to minors.  The suits, filed in federal courts in Colorado and New York federal courts, bring to six the number of known suits claiming harm to minors from the company’s chatbots.

  • September 23, 2025

    Motorists Struck By Speeding LAPD Officer Receive $18M Settlement From City

    LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles and two motorists injured in a collision with a police car driven by a city officer, who was driving 80 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone without lights or sirens “trying to catch up” to a speeder, reached an $18 million settlement several days after the start of a trial on their state court lawsuit.

  • September 22, 2025

    Appellants Argue Reinsurer Was ‘De Facto Insurer’ In $844M Crash Coverage Appeal

    MIAMI — Survivors of a 2016 plane crash and representatives of the deceased filed a brief in a Florida appellate court, arguing that a reinsurer acted as a “de facto insurer” and that state law accordingly permits them to pursue independent bad faith and coverage claims despite a trial court’s dismissal of their amended complaint that sought to enforce approximately $844 million in consent judgments.

  • September 22, 2025

    Illinois Federal Judge Agrees To Limit Life Care Planning Expert’s Testimony

    SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A life care planning expert retained in a medical negligence case can opine on the costs associated with the future care of a woman who alleges that her medical treatment was inadequate but cannot base that testimony on her selection of necessary medical codes, an Illinois federal judge ruled Sept. 19.

  • September 19, 2025

    Prison Doctor Wins Summary Judgment After Expert Out In Deliberate Indifference Case

    RICHMOND, Va. — An expert retained by a former inmate who alleges that delayed medical care worsened his injuries cannot testify after a federal judge in Virigina found that his report does not comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 and that his medical opinions are inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • September 19, 2025

    Tobacco Defendants Object To Opening Statements In Widow’s Wrongful Death Suit

    SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Two tobacco companies and a local retailer filed objections to certain allegedly improper comments in the opening statement of a smoker’s widow after her wrongful death trial kicked off in Massachusetts state court, where the widow claims that her husband was deceived by the tobacco companies into believing filtered cigarettes were safer before he died from lung cancer at age 55. VIDEO FROM THE TRIAL IS AVAILABLE.