By Shawn Kasserman and Brian Baloun

After weeks of resistance, more than 40 injured children, and a precipitous stock decline, Peloton has followed the advice of safety regulators and advocacy groups and recalled more than 125,000 units of its latest treadmill model, Tread+. It is now offering full refunds for the $4,295 machines, effective until November 6, 2022.

The move comes seven weeks after Peloton’s CEO, John Foley, announced that he had learned of one death and a “small handful of incidents” related to children getting trapped underneath the newly released treadmill.

By: Timothy S. Tomasik and Eddie Hettel

Contrary to what airlines often assert, in many cases, victims of airline crashes can recover for both their physical injuries and the psychological injuries attributable to the crash. Under Article 17(1) of the Montreal Convention of 1999, a multilateral treaty concerning compensation for the victims of air disasters, psychological injury alone is not sufficient for a claimant to recover damages against an airline. However, courts have awarded damages for such injuries that are “traceable to” the crash itself, so long as a physical injury is also present.

Historically, courts required a mental injury to “flow from” a physical injury to be compensable. See Eastern Airlines v. Floyd, 499 U.S. 530 (1991) (passengers on flight with imminent belief of crash in Atlantic Ocean could not recover for mental injuries alone); see also In re Air Crash at Little Rock Arkansas, on June 1, 1999, 291 F.3d 503, 511 (8th Cir. 2002) (in accordance with the “flowing from” rule, plaintiff could only recover emotional damages which flowed from her physical injuries, not the incident itself). However, these cases were decided under the Warsaw Convention, the predecessor to the Montreal Convention.

By: Patrick J. Giese and Eddie Hettel

Timely, accurate health information is a necessity during a global pandemic. People across the country obtain COVID-19 tests for a multitude of reasons that ultimately share a common goal – health and safety. Despite their proactivity, many COVID-19 test patients are being penalized rather than rewarded by healthcare providers.

The New York Times recently reported the astronomical testing fees charged by some healthcare providers. Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan consistently charges patients over $3,000 for a routine nasal swab test. Huntington Hospital on Long Island charges patients up to $2,793 for a drive-through test. One family was shocked to learn that they had accumulated $39,314 in charges for 12 precautionary tests taken before returning to work and school.

By: Eddie Hettel

A recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States will make it easier for victims of negligence to pursue their claims in the forum of their choosing.

In Ford Motor Co. v. Montana Eighth Judicial Dist. Court, the Supreme Court considered consolidated cases alleging damages resulting from a defective Ford vehicle. In each case, a state court ruled that it had jurisdiction over Ford Motor Company in a product liability suit resulting from a motor vehicle accident. Ford asked to have both suits dismissed, claiming lack of personal jurisdiction. Ford argued that state courts had jurisdiction only if conduct by the company in the state had led to the plaintiff's claims. Ford argued that such a link existed only if the specific vehicle that was involved in the accident had been designed, manufactured, or sold in the state.

Using unprecedented numbers of lobbyists, rideshare companies have quietly secured legislation (often authored in their own hand) in 41 states that endangers the safety of drivers and riders.

After spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying state legislatures, Lyft and Uber have been permitted to operate without any genuine oversight or concern for driver and passenger safety.  Astoundingly, their aggressive lobbying tactics have given these companies license to operate in nearly every city in America with total impunity.

Lyft and Uber’s success in slashing or eliminating safety protections for drivers and passengers is unsurprising, however, in light of the army of lobbyists they have deployed to craft legislation in statehouses nationwide.