33 results for 'cat:"Product Liability" AND cat:"Wrongful Death"'.
J. Gillmor grants summary judgment to the manufacturer of a helicopter involved in a fatal helicopter crash in negligence and product liability claims. The family of a man who died in the crash cannot show that the manufacturer knowingly caused or concealed flaws that may have led to the crash. There is also no evidence that a provision of a statute, governing liability of aircraft manufacturers even after many years following delivery of the aircraft, applies. The helicopter was delivered 18 years before the crash and there is no evidence of a design defect in replacement components installed in 2018 altered the helicopter to the extent that the rolling provision applies.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Gillmor, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv193, NOS: Airplane - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: product Liability, wrongful Death, Aviation
J. Drell grants a request by the seller of a Caterpillar bulldozer to a parish government, dismissing the company from a wrongful death suit filed by the widow and children of the vehicle’s operator. The operator’s family has no reasonable possibility of recovery under state law, and they have not shown the company was a professional vendor with control over the design or construction of the bulldozer. Furthermore, because a warning to wear a seatbelt was posted on the machine within the operator’s view, the seller did not have a duty to verbally warn parish employees that operating the bulldozer without wearing the seatbelt could be dangerous.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Drell, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv672, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Employment, product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Pipkin finds that the trial court properly denied the company's motion to set aside the default judgment and $25 million damages award entered against it in a wrongful death, product liability and negligence action brought by the estate administrator. The action arose after the decedent was pulled into a steel wire manufacturing machine and decapitated. The trial court correctly found that the company waived any argument that apportionment of the damages was required or appropriate when it failed to appear at the damages trial. The defaulting companies also failed to present any evidence on apportionment. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Pipkin, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: A23A1697, Categories: Damages, product Liability, wrongful Death
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J. Cornelius grants a medical device manufacturer’s motion to dismiss this wrongful death product liability lawsuit involving a medical defibrillator known as the Evera brought by the patient’s estate. The manufacturer recalled the defective defibrillators due to the battery rapidly and unexpectedly depleting approximately two months before the patient’s death, but the estate alleges the recall should have happened sooner. The estate’s claims are based on post-“premarket approval” behavior, so they are preempted by the Medical Device Amendments of 1976.
Court: USDC Northern District of Alabama , Judge: Cornelius, Filed On: March 6, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv423, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Health Care, product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Strickland grants the cigarette distribution company's motion to dismiss, ruling that because it is headquartered in Virginia and the estate has put forth no evidence to show it conducted business in New Mexico, this court lacks jurisdiction over the party.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Strickland, Filed On: March 4, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1136, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: product Liability, Jurisdiction, wrongful Death
J. Pickett finds that the trial court properly dismissed the independent administrator's claims stemming from the deaths of his family members from carbon monoxide poisoning after they used a generator following hurricane-related power outages. Based on the relevant statutes, the independent administrator lacked a cause of action to sue for survival and wrongful death damages. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Pickett, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: CA-23-455, Categories: Civil Procedure, product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Moody grants a hospital food producer’s motion for summary judgment against claims of wrongful death filed by a grandmother’s surviving family members, who were unable to prove her death was due to eating defective, high-sodium food.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Arkansas , Judge: Moody, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: 4:22cv995, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Evidence, product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Dimke denies Daimler Truck's motion for a protective order over questions such as where the company placed "safety" among other criteria, as part of the family's suit accusing Daimler of not equipping its semi-truck with collision warnings and automatic emergency braking, resulting in the truck driver hitting and killing a pedestrian. Daimler argues that topics 1 through 4 should be limited at deposition because they seek information to leverage a juror to artificially increase a damages award, but its compliance with industry safety customs and ensuring its products were safe are relevant to this case.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Washington, Judge: Dimke, Filed On: February 2, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3054, NOS: Motor Vehicle Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: product Liability, wrongful Death, Discovery
J. Whitney denies Neutrogena’s and Johnson & Johnson’s motion to dismiss allegations by the parent of a child who died of leukemia after long-term exposure to the companies’ sunscreen products. The parent allegedly exclusively applied the companies’ sunscreen to the child's skin on a regular basis for 12 years, and Benzene, a chemical compound which is linked to cancer, was present in the sunscreen. The parent’s amended complaint consists of enough credible information at this stage to proceed.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Whitney, Filed On: January 17, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv215, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Tort, product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Miller finds that the district court erred in granting a jet ski owner an injunction against a state-court lawsuit concerning a drowning at a corporate retreat in which an individual was thrown from a jet ski on Lake Tahoe. The matter is remanded with instruction to narrow the injunction so that it bars only claims against the owner, not claims against other parties. Vacated.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Miller, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: 22-16928, Categories: product Liability, wrongful Death
J. DuBow finds that the lower court properly sustained the preliminary objections of an estate administrator to the venue of this wrongful death suit filed against a car seat manufacturer, whose car seat the administrator’s infant daughter died of asphyxiation in while sleeping. The manufacturer’s absence of any physical presence in Philadelphia for business activity supports the court’s transfer of this case to Bucks County. Affirmed.
Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court, Judge: DuBow, Filed On: January 12, 2024, Case #: J-A24020-23, Categories: product Liability, wrongful Death, Venue
J. Gillmor declines to exclude testimony from two experts for a case where a water heater exploded and killed a mother and her infant daughter, finding that the fire and explosion expert and the engineer expert submitted by the deceased’s relatives are qualified by years of experience and certifications, and used reliable data to present relevant testimony.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Gillmor, Filed On: December 28, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv254, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: product Liability, Experts, wrongful Death
J. Wood grants General Electric's motion to dismiss claims for breach of warranty and non-pecuniary damages raised by the executrix and flight crew members in an action arising after the decedent died and several of the crew members were injured in a helicopter crash that occurred during a military training exercise. However, the motion is denied with respect to the executrix's and crew members' product liability, punitive damages, wrongful death and survival claims. The political question doctrine does not bar adjudication of the claims.
Court: USDC Southern District of Georgia, Judge: Wood, Filed On: December 28, 2023, Case #: 4:19cv211, NOS: Airplane Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Dugan grants a widow's motion for a default judgment on wrongful death claims against a third-party seller on Amazon. The widow sufficiently showed in court that the Amazon seller sold defective, electrically heated socks labeled as "good for blood circulation," which resulted in the death of her husband, who contracted sepsis after his feet became burned and wounded. The estate is awarded $9.7 million in damages.
Court: USDC Southern District of Illinois, Judge: Dugan, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 3:20cv1287, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Negligence, product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Welbaum finds the lower court properly granted the car seat manufacturer's motion for summary judgment in products liability. The mother failed to prove a defective buckle on her son's car seat was the proximate cause of death for either of her children. The daughter, who ultimately died of burn injuries, was able to exit the vehicle while the mother was attempting to remove her son from the car, while expert testimony and the mother's own recollection of events established the son likely suffered fatal injuries from smoke inhalation even before the mother's attempts to extricate him from the seat. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Welbaum, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4561, Categories: product Liability, Experts, wrongful Death
J. Pallmeyer partially allows the parent of a child who developed fatal necrotizing enterocolitis from drinking tainted baby formula to refile a complaint against the company that developed the formula. The parent is among dozens whose children suffered necrotizing enterocolitis and died from drinking the formula, but willingly dismissed many of her earlier charges when the company moved for dismissal. She now seeks to refile for damages, the Illinois Wrongful Death Act and the Illinois Survival Act. The court denies her Survival Act claim but allows the others to go forward.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Pallmeyer, Filed On: November 21, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv2222, NOS: Personal Injury - Health Care/Pharmaceutical Personal Injury/Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Consumer Law, product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Colvin answers two questions certified to the Georgia Supreme Court by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in a wrongful death and product liability action brought against Ford arising from the decedent's death from injuries he suffered in a car collision. Reckless conduct is a standalone exception to the ten-year statute of repose. The statute of repose therefore does not apply to a product liability claim sounding in negligence that arises from conduct which manifests reckless disregard for life or property.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Colvin, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: S23Q0625, Categories: product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Gorton allows a manufacturer’s motion for summary judgment and denies a widow’s application for summary judgment in a case where the widow is suing the manufacturer for exposing her late husband to asbestos, resulting in his mesothelioma. While his former coworker confirmed that the decedent worked on ships where Buffalo pumps — a product known to have sometimes contained asbestos — were located, he cannot recall if the decedent worked on those pumps specifically.
Court: USDC Massachusetts, Judge: Gorton, Filed On: July 10, 2023, Case #: 1:19cv10282, NOS: Asbestos Personal Injury Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: product Liability, wrongful Death, Asbestos
J. Wilson finds that the district court properly ruled in favor of Ford in a wrongful death and product liability action brought by the estate administrator alleging that a faulty seatbelt design in a 2003 Ford Mustang caused the decedent's fatal head injury. The district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding testimony from an individual who said she had similar seatbelt issues with her Mustang or in excluding evidence of more than 50,000 warranty claims related to seatbelt issues in Mustangs. The testimony was not substantially similar enough to the administrator's defect theory to warrant admission. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: July 5, 2023, Case #: 22-10348, Categories: product Liability, wrongful Death
J. Smith finds a lower court properly dismissed product liability claims brought by the wife of a deceased spouse against Home Depot. The wife, now widowed, argued that Home Depot is responsible for her husband's death after he fell from a Telesteps Model 16S ladder and hit his head on a church pew. However, Home Depot presented sufficient evidence in court that the ladder may have not been fully opened and locked at the time of the incident. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Smith, Filed On: June 22, 2023, Case #: 22-2437, Categories: Negligence, product Liability, wrongful Death