The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed and vacated in part a district court ruling granting qualified immunity to state correction officers accused of violating an inmate’s Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment during some transport rides. Appeals Court Judge Doris Pryor stated in vacating part of the lower court ruling that any reasonable jury could conclude that…
Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay $670 million to end 2,000 lawsuits brought by parents who claim their children were harmed or died after drinking Abbott’s Similac-brand baby formula. The settlement, announced Aug. 20, will include a Missouri case in which a St. Louis jury had ordered Abbott to pay one family $495 million. In announcing the settlement, Abbott appeared…
A couple will be allowed to continue suing tobacco companies and Walgreens in Cook County court after a federal judge found they did not fraudulently add Walgreens as a defendant in the lawsuit merely as a legal tactic to keep their lawsuit out of federal court and in Cook County’s famously plaintiff-friendly courtrooms. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis sided with…
A chemical company with a manufacturing plant in north suburban Gurnee has agreed to pay to settle hundreds more lawsuits claiming emissions from its manufacturing process caused people living nearby in Lake County to develop cancer. On Aug. 4, attorneys representing hundreds of plaintiffs asked a Cook County Circuit Court judge to sign off on the settlement involving more than…
An Illinois appeals court has agreed a Florida woman isn’t entitled to cut of the proceeds resulting from a settlement paid to her Alabaman father’s estate from an asbestos-related wrongful death lawsuit. The underlying lawsuit began in January 2023 when William Steeves, through the firm of Simmons Hanly Conroy, filed a Madison County lawsuit against multiple corporate defendants regarding a…
Paul Johnson sustained severe injuries while using a drain-cleaning machine manufactured by Ridge Tool Manufacturing Company, Inc. The machine, designed to minimize user risks, included a warning label, an instruction manual, and specially designed gloves. Johnson did not read the manual or use the provided gloves, instead choosing an oversized pair from his employer. While operating the machine, his glove…
Mead Johnson, one of the country’s largest makers of infant formula, can’t use a recent Supreme Court ruling that ended legal claims over weed killer Roundup to similarly pull the plug on an upcoming high stakes trial over claims Mead Johnson’s baby formula was defectively designed and caused babies to become severely ill, a federal judge has ruled. On Aug….
A federal appeals court has affirmed a lower court ruling that an insurer doesn’t have to provide coverage for a Tipton County employer facing wrongful death litigation. High Performance Alloys Inc. is facing a lawsuit from the estate of plant manager Elliot Sullivan over injuries from a 2022 accident at the plant that led to his death. In an opinion…
Several parents whose premature infants developed necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) after being fed cow’s milk-based formula at Pennsylvania Hospital sued the manufacturers of the formula, as well as the hospital, in Pennsylvania state court. The parents alleged that the manufacturers’ products caused NEC and that the hospital failed to warn of the risks and implement policies to protect patients. Some plaintiffs…
A West Virginia woman whose baby died from a disease allegedly caused by consuming cow’s milk-based infant formula won’t get the chance to revive her lawsuit against Abbott Labs, the maker of the formula, because the “alternative warning” she and her lawyers proposed wouldn’t have made a difference, a federal appeals court has ruled. On July 24, the U.S. Seventh…
