The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut granted today, in large part, the Firm’s motion for summary judgment, dismissing negligence claims and claims brought under the Connecticut Product Liability Act (“CPLA”) against the Firm’s clients, including a well-known manufacturer of residential and industrial protective paints and coatings, and a leading national retailer. The Court based its decision on admissions the Firm elicited at its deposition of plaintiffs’ expert engineer, including that he had no basis to criticize our clients’ product. The Court stated “in his deposition,” plaintiffs’ expert “admitted he ‘does not criticize'” the product and based on that admission, his “testimony provides no basis for the trier of fact to conclude [the product] had a faulty design or a manufacturing defect. . . . The plaintiffs’ failure to proffer expert testimony is also fatal to their CPLA claim to the extent it is based on a failure to warn theory or negligence theory. With respect to failure to warn, the plaintiffs have failed to provide evidence that the [product] was defective without warnings. Similarly, with respect to negligence, the plaintiffs have not sufficiently shown that defendants breached a duty of care. Summary judgment is, therefore, warranted.”
Fishkin Lucks prevailed today in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division (Ocean County). Following a hearing, the Court granted the Firm’s motion for summary judgment dismissing fraud, consumer fraud, contract and civil conspiracy claims against the Firm’s client, a national life insurance company. Plaintiffs alleged they were wrongfully induced to participate in a complex wealth accumulation and asset protection plan (“Plan”) allegedly marketed by our client as combining the benefits of qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, compounded and tax-deferred growth and a tax-free death benefit. The Court agreed the statements that allegedly induced plaintiffs to participate in the Plan were statements as to future events that cannot constitute misrepresentations upon which a fraud claim may be based and that New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act does not apply to complex financial products, like the Plan, sold exclusively to business owners.
Fishkin Lucks secured a voluntary dismissal with prejudice today of product liability claims brought against the Firm’s client, a specialty paint and sealant manufacturer, in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas (Philadelphia County). Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed all claims against our client on the eve of plaintiff’s de bene esse deposition, based on our argument that, under the terms of its asset purchase agreement with the product manufacturer, our client bore no liability for the product that allegedly caused plaintiff’s injuries.
Fishkin Lucks is pleased to announce that Steven Lucks was named a 2013 “Rising Star” in the area of Civil Litigation by NJ Super Lawyers®, a magazine and rating service for the legal community. Super Lawyers® bestows the “Rising Star” designation upon “the top up-and-coming attorneys in the state” who are 40 years old or younger. The selection process is a multi-phased, rigorous combination of peer nomination and review by an attorney-led research team. Lawyers throughout the State nominated Steve based on their first-hand observations of him in the courtroom, including as opposing counsel and co-counsel. Less than 2.5 percent of lawyers under the age of 40 are selected for this prestigious honor.
Fishkin Lucks successfully resolved a products liability action today brought against the Firm’s client, a specialty chemical company, in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Middlesex County). Plaintiff, a manufacturer of commercial lawn mowers, alleged that the Firm’s client had distributed defective plastics used in the manufacture of gas tanks installed on the mowers, which prompted a nationwide recall. After targeted discovery attacking plaintiff’s defect theory, and that was designed to demonstrate the Firm’s client was immune from suit under New Jersey’s Products Liability Act as a “product seller,” plaintiff accepted a de minimis settlement from our client, which accounted for less than 1% of plaintiff’s total nationwide recall costs.
Fishkin Lucks secured a voluntary dismissal with prejudice today of third-party claims brought against our client, a global provider of products and services to the masonry concrete industries, in the Superior Court of New Jersey (Bergen County). The third-party complaint sought damages under a variety of legal theories predicated on alleged defects in our client’s latex and microsilica modified mortar used for sidewalk repairs. The dismissal was the product of aggressive discovery sought from the third-party plaintiff and was accomplished before our client had to submit to discovery served by other parties.
