Product Liability: 2014 Year In Review

Massachusetts state and federal courts issued a number of interesting product liability decisions in 2014. The Product Liability and Toxic Tort Litigation Group at Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP recently reviewed these cases. Highlighted below are some of the key cases and issues decided in the past year.

Genereux v. Raytheon Co., 754 F.3d 51 (1st Cir. 2014): The Supreme Judicial Court, not the First Circuit Court of Appeals, must determine whether a cause of action for medical monitoring can lie under Massachusetts law where plaintiffs merely faced an increased risk of harm. (Selya, J.)

Kerrin v. Titeflex Corp., 770 F.3d 978 (1st Cir. 2014): In contrast to Genereux, in the same year the court decided Kerrin v. Titeflex Corp., where in conducting an injury-in-fact analysis for Article III standing purposes, the First Circuit recognized that exposure to an increased risk of future injury may constitute an injury in fact. However, the Court stated that those who assert