Illinois Supreme Court Blocks Rideshare Arbitration in Wrongful Death Ruling
Illinois' top court just kept a wrongful death claim against Uber out of arbitration and in front of a jury, while New York's Second Depart…
Category
Case Law & Settlements
Appellate decisions, verdicts, and notable settlements from California courts.
Gilead Tenofovir Cases: California Supreme Court Closes the Duty-to-Innovate Door
On August 3, 2026, the California Supreme Court ruled in the Gilead Tenofovir Cases (S283862) that drug manufacturers owe no duty of care w…
Speechio v. Starbucks: How Loose Electrical Wire Becomes Debris Under Labor Law Section 241(6)
The First Department's April 2026 decision in Speechio v. Starbucks Corp. clarifies when discarded materials on a construction site constit…
Beauchamp v. NYCTA: What the First Department's $47.8M Reduction Teaches About Building a Damages Record
The First Department upheld $47.8 million for a catastrophically injured pedestrian but cut the jury's $72.5 million award significantly. T…
Where the Appellate Courts Stand on Tolling and the Discovery Rule
The two-year clock in CCP section 335.1 is the easy part. The fights that decide whether your late-filed case survives demurrer turn on del…
Geller v. Uber Severs TNC Wrongful Death Arbitration Clause: Sept. 25, 2026
The Illinois Supreme Court held September 24 in Geller v. Uber, Case No. 132066, that a wrongful-death survivor cannot be compelled to arbi…
Transcontinental Carriers v. Bennett: Georgia's First SB 68 Appellate Test Preserves Injury Evidence in Phase One
In the first major appellate test of Georgia's 2025 tort reform, the Court of Appeals held that a plaintiff can present detailed injury tes…
Medical Device Preemption and the Parallel Claim: How to Keep State Tort Claims Alive After Riegel
Class III medical device cases face an express preemption defense under Riegel v. Medtronic. The parallel claim exception is the path throu…
Insurance Bad Faith Failure to Settle: How the Excess Verdict Becomes the Plaintiff's Recovery Path
When a liability insurer refuses a reasonable settlement demand within policy limits and the verdict exceeds those limits, the insured's ba…
Second Circuit Revives Acetaminophen MDL, Resets Rule 702 Daubert Limits
On July 13, 2026, the Second Circuit vacated Daubert exclusions of three plaintiff experts in MDL 3043, reviving 550-plus acetaminophen cas…
Meehan v. Aguirre: The 998 Last-Offer Trap That Cost a TBI Plaintiff $1 Million in Costs
A California appellate court confirmed that only your final unaccepted CCP 998 offer controls cost-shifting and prejudgment interest — even…
Godshall v. Peterson: The Discovery Rule Survives Summary Judgment in a Post-Surgical Complications Case
A September 2026 California appellate decision reversed a med-mal summary judgment that treated postoperative symptoms as sufficient to tri…