Toxic Tort Defense Blog

Bradford-Hill Criteria

2008-12-14T11:42:00.000-08:00

Click here for a copy of Sir Austin Bradford Hill's 1965 article titled "The Environment and Disease: Association or Causation?" It's worth reading the original text.

Legal Risks of Nanotechnology

2008-12-11T11:25:00.001-08:00

I recently published an article with Ron Wernette, an attorney from Bowman and Brooke in Troy, MI, regarding the legal risks of nanotechnology. You can access of a copy of the article here. Let me know if you have any questions.

Toxicologist Excluded

2008-12-11T09:03:00.000-08:00

In a recent decision in the Southern District of Iowa, the court excluded testimony of plaintiff's toxicologist on the issue of specific causation as unreliable. The court held that the expert engaged in ipse dixit and his opinion concluding that the mother was exposed to "enough" of a pesticide to cause her son's neurodevelopmental delay was inadmissible.

A mother and son brought claims alleging that a chlorpyrifos-containing pesticide used in the home to treat spider infestation while the mother was pregnant caused the developmental neurotoxicity of her child. While court ruled that the toxicologist was qualified to testify about general causation issues (i.e., that organophosphate pesticides acted upon the development of brain tissue and on the particular vulnerability during the prenatal and natal stages), his opinion testimony on specific causation was unreliable. Specifically, he failed to eliminate other causes that might have caused or contributed to the mother and son's symptoms; to estimate the amount of chlorpyrifos the mother inhale, ingested or absorbed; and to determine the duration of her exposure.

Click here for the Order.

Junk v. Terminix Int'l. Co. Ltd. Partnership, No. 4:05-cv-0608-JAJ (S.D. Iowa 2008)

Defending Lead-Containing Toy Lawsuits

2008-02-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

I published the following article in Defense Research Institute's For the Defense magazine with attorney Michael Carey from the Minneapolis office of Bowman and Brooke. The article discusses strategies for defending lead-containing toy lawsuits brought by plaintiff's claiming injury from exposure to these toys.

Click here for a link to the article.