Law Brief®: David Pfeffer and Richard Schoenstein Discuss the Legal Implications of Infrastructure Collapses
Massachusetts courts issued several important product liability decisions in 2025. Nutter’s Product Liability practice group reviewed these cases and report on their significant holdings as follows...more
Product-related injuries are alarmingly common. Often, these injuries result from defects that affect large numbers of products—in some cases, hundreds of thousands or millions of products sold across the country. ...more
A recent preemption decision out of the Southern District of New York offers encouraging news for medical device manufacturers. In Wieder v. Advanced Bionics LLC, 2025 WL 3237257 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 20, 2025), the magistrate judge...more
When your car’s brakes fail on a busy New Jersey highway or your airbag doesn’t deploy during a collision, a defective automotive part may have caused your injuries rather than driver error. In these cases, defective product...more
Defective medical devices present serious risks for patients. Just how big—and how severe—is the problem? Consider this from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA): “Each year, the FDA receives over two million medical...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 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
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
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
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 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
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
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
New York’s Appellate Division, First Department recently issued favorable dismissals to a sporting goods retailer and manufacturer in a case alleging issues with an elastic exercise band that injured a person’s right eye in a...more
Whether an individual is purchasing a new car, a new television, or a new kitchen appliance, the company that makes those products isn’t the only manufacturer involved. In today’s global economy, most products are made by an...more
In Kenney v. Watts Regulator Co, No. 20-2995, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4539 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 11, 2021), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania considered whether to exclude the plaintiff’s...more
Even before COVID-19, coffee companies were navigating the safety challenges of serving hot beverages to customers. On August 18, 2020 – almost 26-years after the infamous Liebeck hot coffee lawsuit – the California Court of...more
For at least two decades, Pennsylvania law has recognized an exemption from strict liability for prescription drug manufacturers based on the state Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 402A...more
In what has become an alarming trend in drug and medical device manufacturing, Smith and Nephew felt compelled to copycat other hip implant manufacturers and market a pair of dual modular hip stems. This trend is alarming...more
Welcome to the first 2019 issue of Product Lines – our quarterly e-newsletter that focuses on toxic torts and products liability issues. For this edition, we are reporting on several important and timely legal issues. As...more
As more and more surgical robots make their way into operating rooms, companies are learning valuable lessons about how their devices function in the real world. ...more
Searcy Denney is representing clients who have been implanted with the Short Modular Femoral Hip System and Modular REDAPT from Smith & Nephew in lawsuits alleging that the manufacturer failed to warn them of the risks...more
Harris Beach attorneys Judi Abbott Curry, Victoria A. Graffeo and Marina Plotkin prevailed on plaintiffs’ appeal to the Second Circuit of product liability failure to warn claims against Pioneer Surgical Technology, Inc. and...more
Frederick (Rick) Fern and the New York City Harris Beach Life Science Practice Group were successful in securing a summary judgment for medical device manufacturers Curlin Medical Inc., Moog Inc., and distributor B. Braun...more