Courts take a harder line on spoliation

Article Abstract:

Federal and state courts became stricter about remedies for spoliation of evidence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Remedies for spoliation include more extensive permission for a party to obtain expert evidence from opposing parties' witnesses. The 'spoliation inference' is another remedy. This means the jury is instructed to infer that evidence was spoliated because of a desire to conceal something unfavorable. Stricter remedies employed in recent years include dismissal of lawsuits and exclusion of expert evidence.

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'Market' liability is limited

Article Abstract:

The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts' dismissal of Santiago v Sherwin-Williams Co continues the trend of failure for market-share liability cases. While the market-share theory has been applied successfully in diethylstilbestrol (DES) liability suits because of the specificity of DES injuries, it has been a failure in cases where the cause of injury could not be as reliably determined.

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Halting regulation through litigation; at least one appellate court has put the brakes on a city's targeting of the gun industry

Article Abstract:

The movement to call a halt to government suits against industry filed to solve various social problems from drunken driving to shooting deaths is discussed. Courts have started ruling that the alleged harm sustained by the governmental body was too remote for recovery because the injuries were indirect.

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