News

June 5, 2018 In New Jersey, absent negligent construction or repair, a land-owner does not owe a duty of care to a pedestrian injured as a result of the condition of the sidewalk abutting the landowner’ s property. An exception to this rule exists for sidewalks abutting a commercial landowner’ […]

June 5, 2018 Let’s face it: Everything, including your car, will be fully automated within the next decade or two. Full automation will likely increase productivity and reduce the stress of daily life. Imagine traveling from Fort Lauderdale to Miami for an important meeting on a Tuesday morning. It will […]

June 5, 2018 Recently, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the April 4, 2017 judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Vanessa L. Bryant, J.) after finding the arguments raised on appeal to be without merit. Karavitis v. Makita U.S.A, […]

May 31, 2018 Third Circuit Decides Case of First Impression The “bare-metal defense” generally maintains that a product manufacturer is not liable for asbestos-related injuries if the original product was “bare metal” and asbestos materials were later added to the product. In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court […]

May 31, 2018 In Lepore v. A.O. Smith Corp ., By way of a Motion to Reconsider, the Rhode Island Superior Court (Gibney, P.J.) addressed Defendants’ Request to Compel the discovery of settlement releases executed between the Plaintiff and certain co-defendants. The first Motion to Reconsider requested settlement releases which […]

May 30, 2018 In In Re: New York County Asbestos Litigation, Alvin Smith and Caroline Smith v. Advance Auto Part Inc., et al., the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County denied defendant’s motion for summary judgment despite a product engineer’s conclusion that none of the […]

May 25, 2018 Recently, Justice James McCarthy presiding over the asbestos cases in New York’s Fifth Judicial District, granted defendant Cytec’s motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint against them, finding no evidence to support a claim as plaintiffs’ responses to interrogatories are insufficient to defeat such a motion. The […]

May 22, 2018 On May 9, 2018, U.S. Judge Marianne B. Bowler of the District of Massachusetts presided over the issue of whether Massachusetts law or Maine law applied to the substantive issues of an asbestos-injury lawsuit brought by Ruth Burleigh on behalf of Ernest Burleigh, who allegedly died of […]

May 22, 2018 In resolving certified questions, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that the common-law rule that limited punitive damages to litigation expenses less costs was inapplicable to punitive damages under the Connecticut Product Liability Act (CPLA). The court found that trial courts are vested with exclusive authority to determine […]