First Circuit Weighs In On Insurer’s Duty To Defend In Pollution Case
Posted on Sep 4, 2015
Decades ago, a substantial oil spill occurred in the Salem, Massachusetts area on property owned by a museum. the pollution eventually migrated to the land of a down gradient neighbor, who brought a private claim against the museum. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued a Notice of Responsibility to the museum. The museum made a demand on its insurer of both the public and private claim. The insurer accepted defense for the public claim with a reservation of rights but the insurer denied its duty to defend the private claim. The insurer, however, did not pay the...
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Expert Challenges Fail In Material Handling Cart Product Liability Case
Posted on Aug 27, 2015
Following a worker’s injury alleged caused by a material handling cart used to bring stock to the customer floor in a national retailer’s store, the worker brought an action alleging that the manufacturer of the cart was strictly liable for the defective design of the cart. Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois denied the manufacturer’s motions to exclude two of the plaintiff’s proposed experts. First, the manufacturer attempted to exclude the testimony of a mechanical engineer whom the defendant manufacturer argued was not qualified...
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Railroad Parent Companies Dismissed In Vinyl Chloride Derailment Case
Posted on Aug 23, 2015
In litigation arising from a train derailment and resulting release of more than 20,000 gallons of the chemical vinyl chloride, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted summary judgment to two railroad parent companies. The court concluded that the plaintiffs could not keep the two railroads, which held a voting interest in the switching and terminal company that actually owned and operated the part of the railroad where the derailment occurred, in the case. The plaintiffs had merely alleged that the railroad parent companies “jointly and severally owned,...
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Process Safety Reminder: Close Out Prior Investigations’ Findings And Recommendations
Posted on Aug 17, 2015
The process safety of Washington, D.C.’s public rail transportation system is under criticism following another derailment earlier this month. According to The Washington Post, the track problem that caused the latest derailment had been detected a month earlier but had not been fixed. The organization’s interim general manager said, “I don’t want to mince words, but this was totally unacceptable.” Chris Van Hollen, a Congressman from Maryland, called the incident “gross negligence” and demanded a more thorough investigation into the...
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Mining Executive’s Request For More Detailed Indictment Denied
Posted on Aug 12, 2015
On Monday, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia denied a renewed motion for a bill of particulars from the coal executive facing federal criminal conspiracy charges arising from a fatal 2010 mine explosion. The defense renewed the motion after additional charges were added to the indictment alleging that the executive engaged in a conspiracy to falsify respirable dust samples and falsify the locations of sampling devices within the mine before the explosion that killed 29 miners. The defense argued that the indictment failed to apprise the identification of:...
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Land Valuation Expert Allowed To Testify In Oklahoma Groundwater Contamination Case
Posted on Aug 11, 2015
In a case involving alleged groundwater contamination of a group of plaintiffs’ properties located in proximity to a company’s former site used to clean missile motor casings, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma denied the plaintiffs’ request to exclude the testimony of one of the company’s proposed land valuation experts. The plaintiffs argued that the expert’s testimony would not be helpful to the jury because it failed to address any of the central questions of the case. Specifically, the plaintiffs emphasized that the expert failed...
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Seventh Circuit Affirms Judgment Preventing Part Of Plaintiff’s $25 Million Recovery On Assigned Claims
Posted on Aug 8, 2015
Under a settlement agreement, the owners and operators of a large yacht agreed to pay an individual who fell and was paralyzed $25 million, payable solely through an assignment of their claims against their insurers. The insurer for Defendant A filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a determination that it did not owe a duty under the pertinent policies to defend or indemnify Defendant A. On Thursday, the Seventh Circuit affirmed a lower court judgment in favor of the insurer on the grounds that the policies only covered Defendant A’s construction business. The insurance...
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