Part of Tim Allen’s character, Tim the Tool Man, included teaching the fictional Tool Time tv audience how to fix things at home, preferably with larger, louder, power tools. Often something would go wrong, and there would be a hole, a leak, or a fire instead of a job well done. That same spirit infuses
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Expert Engineering Testimony Improperly Admitted
By Sean Wajert on
Posted in Articles, Consumer Products
A case from last week reminds us of the importance of appellate review of expert witness admissibility decisions, and the potential impact of junk sci…
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Design Defect Claim Rejected for Lack of Cost Estimate on Alternative Design
By Sean Wajert on
Posted in Articles, Consumer Products
A federal court in Texas recently rejected design defect claims in a product liability case when plaintiff failed to offer a required cost estimate fo…
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PA Supreme Court Issues Important Strict Liability Decision
By Sean Wajert on
Posted in Articles
Pennsylvania has long been a jurisdiction which followed unique, sometimes archaic, rules regarding strict product liability. The state Supreme Court …
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Class Certification Denied in Minivan Case
By Sean Wajert on
A federal court last week denied class certification in a case alleging that vehicle axles were allegedly prone to cracking. See Martin v. Ford Motor …
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Supreme Court Issues Important Preemption Ruling
By Sean Wajert on
Posted in Articles, Drug and Device
The Supreme Court last week reversed the First Circuit decision in Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. v. Bartlett, No. 12-142 (U.S., 6/24/13). Readers will rec…
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Summary Judgment for Defendant in Heater Case
By Sean Wajert on
Posted in Articles, Consumer Products
A federal court granted defendant summary judgment in a products case alleging that a propane heater that exploded was responsible for plaintiff’s hus…
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Amicus Weighs In On Daubert Issue in Court of Appeals
By Sean Wajert on
Posted in Articles, Consumer Products
The Product Liability Advisory Council weighed in as amicus earlier this month, asking the Eleventh Circuit to reverse a district court ruling that ha…
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State Supreme Court Affirms Exclusion of Experts’ Inferential Opinions
By Sean Wajert on
Posted in Articles, Consumer Products
Follow our train of thought: we have posted about the misuse of the differential diagnosis concept, as plaintiff experts morph it from an accepted too…
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Court of Appeals Reverses Daubert Decision
By Sean Wajert on
Posted in Articles, Consumer Products
A tip of the hat to our DRI colleague Mike Weston for alerting us to an interesting 10th Circuit opinion from a couple weeks ago, Hoffman v. Ford Moto…
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