The awarding of punitive damages has been under attack for almost two decades, both by business interests and by those who argue for tort reform and a smaller role of courts in our society. The Supreme Court of the United States appeared to have put the...

Among the subsets of asbestos litigation are claims arising from shipyard workers exposed to asbestos in gaskets as they installed or removed them.   Two attorneys faced off on the issue during a Jan. 22, 2009 teleconference produced by HB Litigation...

"Defamation" is a false statement communicated to someone else that is intended to damage a person’s reputation or good name. Defamation through writing is called "libel," whereas spoken defamation is called "slander."...

For almost 29 years, Alabama law dictated that the state's two-year statute of limitations for toxic torts cases ran from the date of the last exposure to toxic substances. As set forth in Garrett v. Raytheon Co. , 368 So. 2d 516, 520-521 (Ala. 1979), the...

Every day in the United States, more than 800,000 shipments of hazardous materials are transported across highways by tractor-trailers. On a single stretch of highway in Augusta County, Virginia, 216,000 gallons of flammable liquid travel north and south...

Federal preemption is the power of the federal government under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution to displace a state law in favor of a federal law or regulation, when the state law conflicts with the federal law or regulation. Thus,...