Law Brief®: David Pfeffer and Richard Schoenstein Discuss the Legal Implications of Infrastructure Collapses
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
In 2024, the Florida Supreme Court changed the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, aligning them with federal standards in many areas. One of those areas was the scope of discovery. What was once an expansive often burdensome...more
“So when is a question too complicated for the jury?” That is the question the Third Circuit sought to answer recently in Slatowski v. Sig Sauer, Inc., ___ F. 4th ___, 2025 WL 2178533 (3d Cir. 2025), reversing a district...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
In June 2025, a Suffolk County, Massachusetts jury delivered an $8 million verdict in Janice Paluzzi v. Johnson & Johnson (21-2109). The jury allocated $5 million for past pain and suffering and $3 million for future pain and...more
The Court of Appeal for Ontario has certified a class action against the manufacturer of a stolen handgun used to carry out the 2018 mass shooting on Danforth Avenue in Toronto, reversing in part the motion judge’s decision...more
Court: Massachusetts Superior Court, Middlesex County - A Massachusetts jury awarded plaintiff Janice Paluzzi $8 million in damages against defendant Johnson & Johnson and Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (collectively, J&J)....more
Tesla Inc., a leading innovator in electric vehicles, is under increasing legal scrutiny as two major product liability cases bring safety concerns about its cars into sharp focus. These lawsuits highlight alleged design...more
State governments, public school districts, and individuals are suing social media companies, such as TikTok and Snapchat, alleging that defects in their algorithms and platform features cause psychological and physical harm,...more
A recent lawsuit involving an AI chatbot represents another indication of a possible shift in how courts will approach software under traditional strict products liability principles. Traditionally, courts have been hesitant...more
In a recent case pending in Hawaii state court, a husband and wife sued a tobacco company defendant for various claims related to its manufacturing and marketing of tobacco cigarettes, including strict products liability,...more
Director of Human Factors, Robert Rauschenberger, PhD, will present a one-hour* course that will cover: - What human factors is, and how it applies to product liability cases - The role of human factors analysis in...more
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
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
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
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
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
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
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