Injured Worker’s Claims Alleging Defective Conveyor System Barred By Michigan Statute Of Repose
Posted on Oct 22, 2014
A worker for a company in the business of designing and manufacturing corrugated box packaging was injured while off-loading a stack of corrugated material from one conveyor to another when allegedly being crushed by an automated transfer car. He brought suit against the transfer car manufacturer alleging that because of the absence of various safety precautions, the transfer car failed to provide adequate visible and audible warnings. The transfer car manufacturer had specially designed the conveyor system used at this facility to accommodate the work flow from each piece of the owner’s...
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Alabama Jury Levies $9.9 Million Verdict In Auto Crash Case Involving Design And Placement Of Muffler
Posted on Oct 21, 2014
On Monday, an Alabama jury levied a $9.9 million verdict against a car manufacturer following a 2010 crash that resulted in a fuel-fed fire that killed the passenger and injured the driver. The verdict followed a three-week trial. The plaintiffs’ attorney claimed that when the car crashed into a utility pole, a sharp edge of the metal muffler near the fuel tank caused the fuel tank to rupture, spill gasoline, and cause the fire. The plaintiffs’ attorney contended after the verdict that this case establishes that industry standards require that mufflers should be behind the rear axle and...
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OSHA Focused On Enhancing Hazardous Chemical Exposure Protections
Posted on Oct 21, 2014
OSHA recently announced that it will step up efforts to prevent work-related illness caused by exposure to hazardous substances. Ninety-five percent of OSHA’s current Permissible Exposure Limits (“PELs”) have not been updated since their adoption in 1971. In addition, they cover fewer than 500 chemicals, which is a small fraction of the tens of thousands of chemicals now in commerce. OSHA’s comment period will be open until April 8, 2015.
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Delaware Court Finds Accident Reconstructionists Qualified To Testify In Helicopter Crash Case
Posted on Oct 17, 2014
The Superior Court of Delaware recently addressed the admissibility of expert opinion proffered by accident reconstructionists in a wrongful death action involving a helicopter crash over the Gulf of Mexico. Each party challenged the other’s experts asserting that the experts were unqualified and their opinions unreliable. The court found, in large part, that the plaintiffs’ experts’ methodologies were reliable and the experts were sufficiently qualified to testify. Of note, the defendants had repeatedly challenged the experts’ methodologies as unreliable because they relied on each...
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Georgia Design Defect Claims Preempted By Federal Law For FDA-Approved Drugs In Interstate Commerce
Posted on Oct 16, 2014
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio recently found that in a case alleging damages from the use of a birth control patch, even though the plaintiff would have stated a valid design defect cause of action under Georgia law, those claims failed as a matter of law because the defendant manufacturer could not both comply with the state-law duty to alter the composition of its drug and its federal duty not to alter an FDA-approved design. The Georgia design defect cause of action, therefore, was preempted by federal law with respect to FDA-approved drugs sold in interstate...
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Proposed Liability Expert Rejected In Table Saw Design Case
Posted on Oct 16, 2014
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has precluded the testimony of a plaintiff’s proposed liability expert in a case alleging that a table saw that severed part of plaintiff’s left hand was defectively designed. Adopting the magistrate judge’s recommendations, the court found that the proposed expert had testified at approximately 100 trials and had been deposed 400 to 500 times, but never for the defense. The expert had no training or experience in designing table saws, had never lectured or taught courses on the design or manufacture of saws, never owned a table...
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Claims Against Truck Manufacturer For Defective Grab Handle Go To Jury In California Federal Court
Posted on Oct 15, 2014
Claims against a truck manufacturer for allegedly designing a defective grab handle—used to aid truck operators entering and exiting the cab—will proceed to a jury trial in California federal court after a judge denied the manufacturer’s summary judgment motions. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California held that the plaintiff, who fell from a truck after a grab handle he was using allegedly rolled in his grip and caused him to fall, had raised genuine disputes of material fact as to whether the grab handle’s design was a substantial factor in causing his injuries. ...
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