On October 13, 2016, Roylco Educational Light Cubes were recalled because its lithium battery can overheat and catch fire. On the same day, Samsung expanded its recall of the Galaxy Note7 Smartphones based on additional incidents with the replacement phone’s lithium battery overheating and catching fire. On September 20, 2016, Denon recalled its rechargeable battery...
In England, parties to a dispute are encouraged to settle cases through the use of Part 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules (“CPR”). The rationale of the Part 36 regime is to encourage settlement. If a party rejects an offer made under Part 36, and subsequently fails to beat the offer later on in the...
Despite over a decade of laptop battery recalls, one of the latest chapters in the lithium-ion fire hazard saga unfolded on June 23, 2016, when HP issued a sweeping recall of batteries installed in its notebook computers. The particular lithium-ion batteries subject to the recall, the company states, “have the potential to overheat, posing a fire...
In today’s economy, it is no surprise to find that the product at the heart of a product liability suit was manufactured by a company outside of the United States. But properly serving that foreign manufacturer appears to cause some confusion. If strategy dictates the need for a claim against a foreign entity, especially in...
The United States District Court of Maryland recently held that a waiver of subrogation clause found in an AIA agreement can be superseded by subsequent contract language between the contractors. In Turner Construction Co. v. BFPE Int’l, 2016 WL 1169938 (D. Md. Mar. 25, 2016), a general contractor brought suit against its subcontractor for property...
In a Per Curium unpublished opinion dated August 9, 2016, an intermediate appellate court in Michigan overruled a trial judge’s grant of summary judgment based on a waiver of subrogation but affirmed the ruling that the plaintiff had not plead sufficient facts of gross negligence to state a claim. The subrogated claim involved an alleged...
Recently, a subrogation action was filed on behalf of an insurer alleging that a product sold on eBay and Amazon caused a fire for which the insurer is seeking recovery. The action was filed in state court and thereafter removed to federal court. This lawsuit again reminds us in the subrogation world of the difficulty...
The old joke in school used to be, “…the dog ate my homework.” Well, now, as a consequence of manufacturers moving toward more “green” ecologically fashionable products, the wiring in automobiles and common outdoor appliances is becoming feast food for rats, mice and vermin. The intention for utilizing “soy” based wiring coatings was to eliminate...
The first known fatal accident involving a vehicle operating in a type of autopilot mode occurred in Williston, Florida on May 7, 2016. The accident involved a Tesla Model S electric car that was engaged in Autopilot mode. The driver was killed when the Tesla crashed into a large 18-wheel tractor-trailer. The National Highway Traffic...
On July 6, 2016, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a recall for more than 500,000 hoverboards due to fire hazards. The recall involves ten manufacturers, retailers, online retailers and/or US importers, with over half involving the popular Swagway model. The basis for the recall is: “The lithium-ion battery packs in the self-balancing scooters/hoverboards...
