Law Brief®: David Pfeffer and Richard Schoenstein Discuss the Legal Implications of Infrastructure Collapses
As federal agencies and states grapple with regulating artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance its safety profile, and as businesses race to adopt AI for myriad purposes, it is important to recognize a general safety...more
Foley Hoag LLP publishes this quarterly Update primarily concerning developments in product liability and related law from federal and state courts applicable to Massachusetts, but also featuring selected developments for New...more
The United States Supreme Court first recognized products liability, including strict liability, as part of the general maritime law in East River Steamship S.S. Corp. v. Transamerica Delaval, Inc., 476 U.S. 858 (1986). The...more
In Shears v. Ethicon, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated a judgment entered in favor of Ethicon and its parent company Johnson & Johnson following a jury trial in a pelvic mesh products liability...more
The number of cases involving so-called “nuclear verdicts” — that is, verdicts with awards of $10 million or more — have risen sharply, and many of those cases concern product liability claims. For large corporations, such...more
In Pelton v Maytag, 2024 ONSC 3016 (“Pelton”) the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (the “Court”) ruled that the defendant manufacturers were not liable for failing to warn consumers that the product could fail because of a...more
Women whose Paragard copper IUD broke during removal or while being implanted may be eligible to file a lawsuit and receive compensation for their injuries. Thousands of women who were injured by broken Paragard IUDs have...more
The grace period for claims that would have been viable under Florida’s 10-year statute of repose, but were no longer viable after Florida shortened the statute of repose to 7 years, is quickly approaching its expiration. On...more
An expert witness is not supposed to pick a desired result and then reverse engineer inputs and methods that reach that result. As the Ninth Circuit observed 30 years ago, “[c]oming to a firm conclusion first and then doing...more
Product liability claims require proof of causation. To be sure, they also require proof of some defect in the product and/or its accompanying warnings and product literature. But defect and causation are separate elements...more
In 2014, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated opinion in Tincher v. Omega Flex, Inc., 628 Pa. 296, 104 A.3d 328 (2014). That case was a product liability action based on a design defect. The defense bar...more
AN OVERVIEW OF THE CAUSES OF ROOF FAILURE - Collapses of wood-framed roofs are frequently reported in North America, ranging from simple agricultural roofs to complex roofs in industrial buildings. Controllable factors...more
Getting a shoulder replacement is supposed to improve your quality of life. It is supposed to eliminate your pain, restore your mobility and allow you to do most of the things you were able to do before you started to have...more
Crafting the perfect medical device is never an exact science—but a patient should never suffer because of defects in a product that was intended to improve their quality of life. Determining whether a device manufacturer or...more
Just before Christmas, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court delivered a lump of coal to products liability defendants: Sullivan v. Werner Co., 2023 WL 8859656 (Pa. Dec. 22, 2023), affirming a lower court ruling that barred evidence...more
The London Engineering Group’s LEG 3 exclusion—one of three standard form provisions issued by the London Engineering Group addressing coverage arising from construction or design defects—is an increasingly common defects...more
The first bellwether trial in the nationwide litigation over the copper IUD Paragard is scheduled to go to trial in Georgia in October 2024. More than 2,200 lawsuits have been filed against Teva Pharmaceutical and...more
The Michigan Senate recently passed a bill to repeal a long-standing state law immunizing pharmaceutical manufacturers and sellers from product liability suits where the pharmaceutical products were approved by the U.S. Food...more
Federal health officials have received thousands of reports of women whose Paragard copper IUDs broke when they were being removed. Hundreds of women with broken Paragard IUDs have filed lawsuits against the manufacturers of...more
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals recently reversed, in part, and affirmed, in part, a lower court decision regarding dismissal of contractual indemnity and implied indemnity claims. WW Consultants was the design...more
Defective products can lead to serious injuries and even the wrongful death of you or a loved one. Cases that stem from defective products come in a variety of forms and can involve a range of defendants. Understanding how...more
If you don’t know where a line is, you can’t say whether someone has crossed it. That principle applies in spades to expert witnesses, particularly when their role in the case calls on them to help the jury understand where...more
We all expect products to be safe when we purchase them for ourselves or our children. Unfortunately, there are times when injuries occur as a result of using a product. Understanding the different types of claims that can be...more
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently announced that Whirlpool Corporation agreed to pay an $11,500,000 civil penalty associated with the CPSC’s charges that Whirlpool knowingly failed to immediately report...more
The Benefits of Collaboration - In today’s construction industry, it is no secret that there is always increasing pressure to speed up schedules and to keep costs down. One key factor that can help achieve these goals is to...more