A multi-state class action lawsuit over allegedly shoddy laminate flooring has been settled, with defendant Lumber Liquidators agreeing to pay $36 million to class members, an attorney for the plaintiffs reports. Pat Wallace of Whitfield Bryson & Mason in ...

Tagged with: Products Liability

State Farm Fire & Casualty Insurance Co. v. Lowe’s Companies (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-02-0194, 6 pp.) (James Fox, Sr.J.) 5:14-cv-00441; E.D.N.C. Holding: Even though the defendant-subcontractor did not discover the reason for the defect in plaintiff’s insureds’ dryer until after ...

Tagged with: Products Liability

Nemphos v. Nestle Waters NA Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-01-0068, 30 pp.) (Wilkinson, J.) No. 13-2146, Jan. 8, 2015; USDC at Baltimore, Md. (Russell, J.) 4th Cir. Holding: Federal law preempts a parent’s state-law claims against manufacturers of bottled water, ...

Tagged with: Products Liability

Fontenot v. TASER International, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 12-04-0464, 35 pp.) (Robert J. Conrad Jr., Ch.J.) 3:10-cv-125;W.D.N.C. Holding: Where plaintiff’s decedent never “used” the taser that killed him, the defendant-manufacturer was not entitled to a defense of contributory negligence. Defendant’s motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and a new trial are denied. Defendant’s motion for remittitur is granted.

Tagged with: Damages Products Liability Taser Tort/Negligence Wrongful Death

Stark v. Ford Motor Co. G.S. § 99B-3 shields a manufacturer from liability for modifications made to its product by another “party.” The term “party”, as used in the statute, means anyone, not just a party to the products liability lawsuit.

Tagged with: Products Liability Tort/Negligence

Walker v. Medtronic Inc. The 4th Circuit upholds the district court decision that plaintiff has no common law tort claim against defendant Medtronic, maker of the allegedly defective SynchroMed pump for delivery of medication through a catheter, as her claim is preempted by the Medical Device Amendments of 1976 and regulations which provided for premarket approval by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

Tagged with: Preemption Products Liability Tort/Negligence

The plaintiff purchased in the summer of 2009 a Sportspower trampoline (manufactured in China) at BJ’s Wholesale Club in Cary. The plaintiff went underneath the trampoline to attach an accessory called a Flash Litezone, which was designed to be suspended underneath the trampoline by two bungee cords. The accessory was designed to light up when someone jumped on the trampoline.

Tagged with: Products Liability

By KIMBERLY ATKINS, Lawyers USA, the national sister paper of Lawyers Weekly kimberly.atkins@lawyersusaonline.com   Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Wyeth v. Levine that state law failure-to-warn claims against brand-name drug makers are not automatically preempted by ...

Tagged with: Pharmaceutical Products Liability U.S. Supreme Court

A sweeping tort-reform bill that would have the effect of preventing product-liability lawsuits in cases where the product got a stamp of approval from government regulators was formally introduced in the state House this week. At a packed hearing, Greensboro attorney Janet Ward Black (pictured) said the product-liability provision in the bill would be the most plaintiff-unfriendly in the country. The bill also incorporates some controversial aspects of a medical-malpractice tort-reform bill under consideration in the Senate.

Tagged with: General Assembly Legislature Products Liability Tort Reform

In what plaintiffs' lawyers are calling a "radical" move, House Republicans are pushing for a measure that would give immunity in products-liability cases to pharmaceutical manufacturers so long as a drug was approved by the Federal Drug Administration. The provision says that no manufacturer or seller shall be held liable in a products-liability action so long as the product was designed, manufactured, packaged and sold in accordance with the terms of an approval of a government agency.

Tagged with: FDA General Assembly Legislature Pharmaceutical Products Liability