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Personal Injury

Can a Retailer or Distributor Be Liable for a Product It Didn’t Design or Manufacture?

Elisabeth McOmber April 30, 2015

The short answer is – it depends. Utah case law has established what is commonly referred to as the passive retailer doctrine. This doctrine creates an exception to Utah’s Product Liability Act, which states that a manufacturer or seller of a product may be held liable for injury caused by the product if found to be defective and unreasonably dangerous.

Utah’s Causes of Action in Products Liability Cases

Douglas Cannon April 30, 2015

In 1979, the Utah Supreme Court in Ernest W. Hahn, Inc. v. Armco Steel Co., 601 P.2d 152 (1979) adopted the doctrine of strict liability as set out in the Restatement of Torts 2d, Section 402A. This section imposes liability in tort without proof of negligence upon “one who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the

The Erosion Of Medical Claims Protection

Christopher Mars March 6, 2015

Patient falls in nursing homes and hospitals may no longer be afforded the legal protections of medical claims after a recent appellate court decision. In December, the Tenth District Court of Appeals issued an opinion which further eroded the medical claim protection by holding that a fall in a nursing home unrelated to medical care or treatment is an ordinary

Subrogation: The Newest Challenge For Personal Injury Plaintiff’s Cases

Nicholas Dodosh March 6, 2015

One of the hottest (and least favorite) issues that plaintiff’s lawyers all across the country are grappling with right now can be stated in one word, subrogation. Subrogation issues in the personal injury context arise when a third-party payer of medical bills (usually Medicare, Medicaid or a private health insurance company) makes a claim for reimbursement out of the subsequent

Prelitigation Hearings in Medical Malpractice Cases

John Ray March 3, 2015

In Utah, medical malpractice tort reform began in earnest in 1976. Over the intervening years, the reforms have multiplied. New layers of limitations and procedural complexity have developed, seemingly by accretion. Almost nothing has been discarded. The result is a web of time-consuming requirements that a prospective claimant must successfully negotiate before ever filing a lawsuit. In 1976, a petitioner

What is Vocational Rehabilitation?

Kay Van Wey January 29, 2014

The profession of vocational rehabilitation counseling gained importance after World War II. Many soldiers returned from combat with missing limbs, and other physical and mental disabilities that prevented them from returning to the jobs they had prior to the war. The vocational rehabilitation counselor (VRC) was trained to identify abilities and skills of workers. They work with persons with disabilities

Identifying and Screening Strong Negligent Premises Security Cases

John Leighton January 6, 2014

Over the last two decades, the field of inadequate security litigation has grown explosively, particularly in Florida, a leading state both in terms of violent crime as well as in its development of case law in the field of premises liability. Homicides, sexual assaults and other violent crimes occur frequently in Florida, and all too often a property manager, owner

Personal Injury

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