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Product Liability

  • August 05, 2025

    Feds Aim To Shut Off Kids' Challenge To Trump Energy Orders

    A lawsuit filed by youths alleging that President Donald Trump's energy policy directives harm their future by exacerbating climate change should be dismissed because their claims can't be addressed by courts, the federal government said Monday.

  • August 05, 2025

    Shuttered NJ Importer Pleads Guilty To Hiding AC Fire Risks

    A defunct New Jersey importer of consumer appliances pled guilty on Tuesday to one count of willfully violating the Consumer Product Safety Act for its failure to report dangerous defects in more than 33,000 portable air conditioners that have been linked to more than 40 fires and one death, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

  • August 05, 2025

    Calif. City Sanctioned Over Missing Reports In Dow, PPG Case

    A San Francisco Superior Court judge found that a California city that's pursued decades-long litigation against Dow Chemical and PPG Industries over dry cleaning chemicals that allegedly contaminated city sites "committed egregious discovery violations" by destroying and concealing 1991 reports related to the chemicals leaking into the city's groundwater.

  • August 05, 2025

    Utah Judge Blocks 'Bad Faith' Prosecution Of Psilocybin Church

    A Utah federal judge has blocked a state court prosecution of the leader of a church that uses psilocybin in its sacrament, finding the prosecution was initiated in bad faith to harass the church and its members following a ruling against the state in the federal case.

  • August 05, 2025

    Fla. Biz Won't Sell Knockoff Weight Loss Drugs After AG Deal

    A string of Florida companies and their owner have agreed to stop selling what Connecticut authorities called "bootleg" GLP-1 weight loss drugs nationwide and enter into a $300,000 settlement, records in a consumer protection enforcement action show.

  • August 05, 2025

    Tesla Hit With Suit Over Autonomous Vehicle Issues

    A Tesla Inc. investor has launched a proposed securities class action against the company in Texas federal court, claiming it overhyped its autonomous driving vehicles despite flaws that led to regulatory and legal blowback, including a recent $329 million verdict involving the Autopilot feature.

  • August 05, 2025

    Alaska Airlines Can't Nix Flight Attendant's Surgery Win

    A Washington state appeals court won't disturb a jury's finding that a flight attendant was entitled to coverage of a spine surgery for an injury she sustained while working for Alaska Airlines, saying the trial court judge rightly rejected the airline's proposed jury instruction for its confusion.

  • August 04, 2025

    Roundup Judge Threatens Sanctions For Unpaid Plaintiff Fees

    The California federal judge presiding over multidistrict personal injury litigation over Monsanto's Roundup weed killer has threatened to sanction 37 plaintiffs' firms that have not held back a percentage of their recovery fees for a common benefit fund.

  • August 04, 2025

    FCA Juror's Possible Conflict Can't Justify Retrial, Judge Says

    A class action trial against Fiat Chrysler in 2023 was not tainted by a juror whose employer was negotiating a deal with the automaker's parent company Stellantis NV, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled Friday, rejecting a bid by a class of drivers who sued over allegedly defective headrests.

  • August 04, 2025

    MOVEit Data Breach MDL Advances With Slimmed Frame

    A Massachusetts federal judge has pared down but declined to toss sprawling multidistrict litigation over a data breach tied to Progress Software's MOVEIt file transfer tool, with negligence and several other claims allowed to proceed against the software vendor and four bellwether groups of companies that used the tool.

  • August 04, 2025

    Fiat Chrysler, Drivers Seek OK Of Truck Defect Settlement

    A group of Dodge Ram drivers has asked a federal judge to preliminarily approve a class settlement resolving claims that Fiat Chrysler sold trucks with a defect that causes vehicle fires.

  • August 04, 2025

    Italian Pipe Co. Can't Upend Tex-Isle's $2.2M Arb. Award

    A New York federal judge will not disturb a $2.2 million arbitration award in favor of Tex-Isle Supply Inc. against an Italian pipe maker over alleged defects, saying the Italian company's disagreement with the arbitrator's findings is not grounds to vacate the award.

  • August 04, 2025

    Imperial Tobacco Seeks US Approval Of CA$32B Restructuring

    Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. asked a New York bankruptcy judge to recognize and enforce the company's Canadian restructuring plan that implements its role in a CA$32.5 billion ($23.59 billion) settlement of tobacco liability suits north of the border.

  • August 04, 2025

    Hair Care Brand Olaplex Settles IPO Investors' Suit For $47.5M

    Olaplex Holdings Inc. has reached a $47.5 million settlement with investors to resolve a proposed class action alleging that the hair care brand's initial public offering documents did not disclose that the European Union had banned a controversial ingredient called lilial, which would affect Olaplex's main product offering.

  • August 04, 2025

    Hemp Org. Applauds Removal Of Ban From Spending Bill

    A national hemp industry trade organization on Monday said it was grateful for the removal of language from a Senate appropriations bill that would have banned consumable hemp-derived products with psychoactive THC.

  • August 04, 2025

    Logan Paul Energy Drink Co.'s False Ad Suit Tossed For Good

    A New York federal judge has thrown out a consolidated suit alleging Logan Paul's Prime Hydration LLC misleads consumers by selling energy drinks with more caffeine than advertised, saying a "smidgen" more caffeine is not material to the kind of buyer who is already buying a drink with twice the caffeine of its competitors.

  • August 04, 2025

    Chemical Group Says Fluoride Judge Got It Wrong

    The American Chemistry Council told the Ninth Circuit that a California federal judge who ruled that current limits on fluoride in drinking water aren't protective enough misinterpreted the Toxic Substances Control Act and urged reversal of his decision.

  • August 04, 2025

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Last week at the Delaware Court of Chancery, insurance brokerage and risk management giant Marsh & McLennan Cos. sought injunctive relief in a new suit accusing U.S. affiliates of London-based Howden Holdings Ltd. of a poaching scheme that involved over 100 M&M employees resigning on July 21. 

  • August 04, 2025

    Judge Sends Asbestos Coverage Row Back To State Court

    A Michigan federal judge on Monday remanded to state court a dispute over the allocation of commercial general liability coverage for nationwide asbestos injury suits, reasoning from the bench that defendants who are served after a case is removed to federal court should have the right to challenge that forum change.

  • August 04, 2025

    Boeing Settles Defunct African Airline's 737 Max Fraud Suit

    Boeing has resolved a lawsuit accusing it of duping a South African airline into purchasing faulty 737 Max jets, the parties told a Washington federal judge, ending a case marked by discovery disputes that the judge recently said had "spiraled out of control."

  • August 04, 2025

    4th Circ. Says Lead Paint Suit Rightly Returned To State Court

    The Fourth Circuit has affirmed the remand of a proposed class action alleging a television tower owner and a painting company blasted lead-based paint off the tower and into surrounding neighborhoods, finding the case fits within the "local controversy" exception in the Class Action Fairness Act.

  • August 04, 2025

    7th Circ. Won't Put Chicago Climate Change Suit On Hold

    The Seventh Circuit will not pause the execution of a lower court order remanding Chicago's climate change lawsuit against fossil fuel companies to state court, a decision the companies have asked the circuit court to review.

  • August 04, 2025

    DuPont Inks $2.5B Deal With NJ Over PFAS Pollution

    E.I. du Pont de Nemours and New Jersey have reached a more than $2 billion landmark deal to remedy long-standing "forever chemical" contamination at the company's manufacturing sites across the Garden State, including a longtime facility in Salem County.

  • August 01, 2025

    9th Circ. Partially Revives Child Porn Victims' Suit Against X

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday partially revived a lawsuit brought by 13-year-old boys who had been sex trafficked alleging X Corp. refused to remove pornographic videos of them, saying Section 230 shields the social media platform from claims it knowingly benefited from sex trafficking, but not from negligence and defective-reporting design claims.

  • August 01, 2025

    3 Injured In Assisted-Living Facility Fire Sue Owner, Alarm Co.

    Three injured survivors of a deadly fire at a Fall River, Massachusetts, assisted-living facility last month have sued the owner and a fire alarm company, alleging that the owner ignored multiple safety issues and let the place become "a death trap."

Expert Analysis

  • The Math Of Cross-Examination: Less Is More, More Is Less

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    When conducting cross-examination at trial, attorneys should remember that “less is more, and more is less” — limiting both the scope of questioning and the length of each query in order to control the witness’s testimony and keep the factfinders’ attention, says Thomas Innes at the Defender Association of Philadelphia.

  • Ga. Tort Reform Bill May Help Dampen 'Nuclear' Verdicts

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    Many aspects of the tort reform bill just passed by the Georgia Legislature — including prohibitions on suggesting damage amounts to juries, and limits to recovering phantom damages — face opposition from the plaintiffs bar, but are a key first step toward addressing excessive damage awards in the state, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises

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    “No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.

  • As Failure-To-Warn Preemption Wanes, Justices May Weigh In

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    Federal preemption of state failure-to-warn claims has long been a powerful defense in strict liability tort cases, but is now under attack in litigation over the weedkiller Roundup and other products — so the scope and application of preemption may require clarification by the U.S. Supreme Court, says Michael Sena at Segal McCambridge.

  • How Design Thinking Can Help Lawyers Find Purpose In Work

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    Lawyers everywhere are feeling overwhelmed amid mass government layoffs, increasing political instability and a justice system stretched to its limits — but a design-thinking framework can help attorneys navigate this uncertainty and find meaning in their work, say law professors at the University of Michigan.

  • Tools For Witness Control That Go Beyond Leading Questions

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    Though leading questions can be efficient and effective for constraining a witness’s testimony, this strategy isn’t appropriate for every trial and pretrial scenario, so techniques like headlining and looping can be deployed during direct examination, depositions and even witness interviews, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

  • Opinion

    Weight Drug Suits Highlight Need For Legal Work On Safety

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    The rapid ascent of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists like Ozempic has revolutionized diabetes management and weight loss — but legal wrangling over issues including off-label prescriptions, side effects and compounded versions underscores lawyers' roles in protecting patient safety, says attorney Gregg Goldfarb.

  • Will Independent Federal Agencies Remain Independent?

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    For 90 years, members of multimember independent federal agencies have relied on the U.S. Supreme Court's 1935 ruling in Humphrey's Executor v. U.S. establishing the security of their positions — but as the Trump administration attempts to overturn this understanding, it is unclear how the high court will respond, says Harvey Reiter at Stinson.

  • 4 Do's And Don'ts For Trial Lawyers Using Generative AI

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    Trial attorneys who use artificial intelligence tools should review a few key reminders, from the likelihood that prompts are discoverable to the rapid evolution of court rules, to safeguard against embarrassing missteps, says Nate Sabri at Perkins Coie.

  • Series

    Competitive Weightlifting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The parallels between the core principles required for competitive weightlifting and practicing law have helped me to excel in both endeavors, with each holding important lessons about discipline, dedication, drive and failure, says Damien Bielli at VF Law.

  • Opinion

    Inconsistent Injury-In-Fact Rules Hinder Federal Practice

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    A recent Third Circuit decision, contradicting a previous ruling about whether consumers of contaminated products have suffered an injury in fact, illustrates the deep confusion this U.S. Supreme Court standard creates among federal judges and practitioners, who deserve a simpler method of determining which cases have federal standing, says Eric Dwoskin at Dwoskin Wasdin.

  • In-House Counsel Pointers For Preserving Atty-Client Privilege

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    Several recent rulings illustrate the challenges in-house counsel can face when attempting to preserve attorney-client privilege, but a few best practices can help safeguard communications and effectively assert the privilege in an increasingly scrutinized corporate environment, says Daniel Garrie at Law & Forensics.

  • Improving Comms Between Trial Attys And Tech Witnesses

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    In major litigation involving complex technology, attorneys should employ certain strategies to collaborate with companies' technical personnel more effectively to enhance both the attorney's understanding of the subject matter and the expert's ability to provide effective testimony in court, say attorneys at Buchalter.

  • As EPA Backs Down, Expect Enviros To Step Up Citizen Suits

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    As President Donald Trump's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draws down federal enforcement efforts, environmental groups will step into the void and file citizen suits — so companies should focus on compliance efforts, stay savvy about emerging analytical and monitoring methods, and maintain good relations with neighbors, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • What's Next For State Regulation Of Hemp Cannabinoids

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    Based on two recent federal court cases that indisputably fortify broad state authority to regulate intoxicating hemp cannabinoid products, 2025 will feature continued aggressive state regulation of such products as industry stakeholders wait for Congress to release its plans for the next five-year Farm Bill, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

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