Mechanism
The liability shield
Legal protection that moves the cost of harm from the producer to the person harmed or to the public.
Information and Perception
- Finding INF-5.15
- Primary record On 9 August 2024 the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Children's Health Defense's suit against Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, the Poynter Institute and Science Feedback, holding that the alleged harm came from Meta's own policy and that Children's Health Defense alleged no government coercion or agreement. The opinion recites that Meta disabled the group's donate button and barred its ads because it "repeatedly posted content that has been disputed by third-party fact-checkers."
Medicine and Public Health
- Finding MED-5.1
- Primary record A California court held Cutter Laboratories liable for polio caused by its 1955 vaccine after a jury found the company had not been negligent.
- Finding MED-5.2
- Primary record Since 1988, a person injured by a covered vaccine must take the claim to a federal compensation program before suing the manufacturer.
- Finding MED-5.3
- Reported No Gardasil injury suit has reached a jury verdict. A federal court ruled the failure-to-warn claims preempted in 2025, and Merck entered an agreement in October 2025 to settle most remaining cases that was final by August 2026.
- Finding MED-5.4
- Primary record In June 2026 the Supreme Court held 7–2 that federal pesticide law bars state claims that Roundup's label should have warned of cancer.
- Finding MED-5.5
- Primary record The Justice Department reversed the position it had taken in the Supreme Court on Roundup preemption, citing a new circuit conflict and "the change in Administration", and urged the Court to hear the case.
- Finding MED-5.7
- Primary record Appropriators and the House removed pesticide liability protections from two bills in 2026. The same year, an executive order covering glyphosate herbicides conferred Defense Production Act immunity.
- Finding MED-12.7
- Primary record The federal radiation inquiry documented plutonium injections into unsuspecting patients and secrecy intended to prevent embarrassment and legal liability.
- Finding MED-12.10
- Primary record Canada's compensation program for Cameron's patients approved 77 of 332 applications while the government rejected legal liability.
War and Defense
Politics and Government
Food and Agriculture
Religious Institutions
- Finding REL-3.10
- Primary record The Guidepost Solutions investigation of 22 May 2022 found that from 2007 a staff member of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee kept a list of accused ministers, the latest version with 703 names, and that there is no indication anyone acted to ensure those ministers were out of positions of power at SBC churches. It found that senior Executive Committee leaders and outside counsel were focused on avoiding liability, and that counsel advised staff not to elicit further information so the Committee would not assume a legal duty.