DC High Court Adopts Daubert Approach to Expert Testimony -
In a direct victory for mobile phone manufacturers and service providers, and with implications for any other case involving expert testimony in the District of...more
12/12/2016
/ Admissibility ,
Contamination ,
Daubert Standards ,
Drinking Water ,
Evidence ,
Expert Testimony ,
Manufacturers ,
Mobile Devices ,
Preemption ,
Take-Home Exposure ,
Toxic Exposure
California Appellate Court Upholds “Every Exposure” Theory -
Deferring to the role of a jury in resolving questions of competing scientific theories, a California appeals court upheld a trial court’s ruling allowing...more
In a case that may make it easier to prove causation in Maryland lead paint cases, the Maryland Court of Appeals held that neither direct evidence of the source of lead nor expert testimony was necessary when a trier of fact...more
In a decision that may make it more difficult to sustain medical monitoring claims in Pennsylvania, a federal district court dismissed as untimely a putative class action alleging workplace chemical exposure. Blanyar v....more
In a decision that may have implications in other cases related to alleged lead in drinking water, a District of Columbia trial court dismissed negligence and consumer protection claims against the District’s water utility,...more
In a case underscoring the importance of reliable methodologies in expert testimony, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld a trial court decision excluding specific causation testimony linking benzene...more
In a case that may make it easier to prove causation in Maryland lead paint cases, the Maryland Court of Appeals held that neither direct evidence of the source of lead nor expert testimony was necessary when a trier of fact...more
An Ohio federal jury in October handed out the first verdict in multi-district litigation (“MDL”) against E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co. related to ammonium perfluorooctanoate, or C-8, in drinking water around DuPont’s...more
The judge in a petroleum exposure case will allow a jury to decide whether a gas station operator and its environmental consultant recklessly failed to inform a plumber of the risks of working in an excavated pit with a...more
Chastising the Plaintiffs for forum shopping, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a district court’s decision to dismiss a matter with prejudice on the grounds that the Plaintiffs had previously...more
Underscoring the importance of sound science in expert opinions, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the exclusion of expert testimony that did not adequately draw or extrapolate from reliable...more
Issuing an opinion that could lower the bar for proving toxic tort causation, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that direct expert testimony may not be necessary to prove causation in a toxic tort case and that a plaintiff...more
Underscoring the importance of reliable expert methodology, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld the dismissal of a personal injury suit based on unreliable expert testimony. See Henry v. St Croix Alumina,...more
PREEMPTION -
Supreme Court Says CERCLA Does Not Preempt Repose Defense for Tort Claims -
The U.S. Supreme Court has put to rest a longstanding legal question affecting the deadline for plaintiffs to bring toxic tort...more
MASS TOXIC TORTS -
West Virginia Chemical Spill Prompts Wave of Lawsuits -
The January 9th, 2014 chemical release at a Freedom Industries, Inc. facility in West Virginia has shown, yet again, that major...more
4/28/2014
/ Chemical Spills ,
Class Certification ,
Contamination ,
Damages ,
Drinking Water ,
Expert Testimony ,
Failure To Warn ,
Groundwater ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Medical Monitoring ,
Toxic Exposure