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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Supreme Court Issues Important Preemption Ruling
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
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
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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Court of Appeals Reverses Daubert Decision
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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Failure of Expert Testimony on Alternative Designs Dooms Claim
A New Jersey appeals court ruled recently that plaintiffs’ expert testimony was indeed insufficient in a suit over a fire and explosion involving a fu…
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Product Seller (Still) Has No Duty To Protect From Criminal’s Use Of Product
Country music fans among our readers may recall the Garth Brooks’ song “Longneck Bottle.” That tune, from his CD “Sevens,” reached…
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Appeals Court Vacates Asbestos Plaintiff Jury Verdict
The Florida court of appeals recently reversed a $6.6 million judgment for the plaintiff in an asbestos case raising interesting issues of the law app…
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Expert May Be Needed on Design Defect, Even Under Consumer Expectations Test
Back when we taught Products Liability in law school, one of the topics that always got significant attention and discussion from the bright-eyed stud…
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Proof of Feasible Alternative Design Does Not Prove Defect
Readers know that most jurisdictions require that a plaintiff alleging a design defect in a product must produce sufficient evidence of a feasible alt…
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