Prescribing doctors – in our business you have to love them. Almost all of the cases we handle are governed by the learned intermediary rule, meaning that there’s no duty to warn a patient directly, and all warnings about prescription medical products are directed to the prescribers. When the prescribing doctor says “I knew all
We’re not fond of court rules that dictate the structure of briefs.
We understand why courts adopt these rules. It’s partially for self-preservation; if courts didn’t impose page limits on briefs, for example, many litigants would inflict tomes on courts. And some rules make it easier for the court to find certain essential information, such
Virtually all physicians prescribe drugs and medical devices for off-label uses. The pace of FDA approval of new drugs and devices (or of new indications for existing drugs) necessarily lags behind the pace of medical research. Physicians will therefore always be aware of a recent study showing that a drug offers hope to a patient
Wake up! Wake up!
We know we put you to sleep with the title of this post, but we promise: The post will be a short one, and you might actually be interested.
For large corporations that are repeat litigants, the cost of litigation document management is a big issue. Defense counsel must identify, gather,
An interesting new article just appeared in print, if we do say so ourselves.
One of your cohosts (Herrmann) and one of his colleagues at Jones Day (Pearson Bownas) published “Making Book on the MDL Panel” in today’s issue of BNA’s Class Action Litigation Report. Here’s a link.
The article identifies every motion ever
You’d probably expect that two guys whose idea of recreation includes commenting on drug and medical device product liability litigation would be members of the American Law Institute – and you’d be right. We both are ALI members, and it’s an outstanding organization through which many really smart and really dedicated people to donate huge
The popular press picked up yesterday on a news item that folks defending antidepressant cases have known for a while. First, the backstory: A couple of years ago, the FDA required pharmaceutical manufacturers to add warnings about pediatric suicidality to the labels of their prescription antidepressants. Now, yesterday’s news: Adding those warnings may have discouraged
If a statute or rule serves no purpose, then the statute or rule should be abolished. That’s how we feel about Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(1)(A) — the provision allowing a class action to be certified if “the prosecution of separate actions . . . would create a risk of . . . inconsistent
As readers of this blog know, your two cohosts met more than a decade ago, when they were toiling side by side in the Orthopedic Bone Screws wars. We hope you’ll forgive a moment’s reflection about what those cases taught us about the informed consent process.
In 1993, the FDA-approved labels for “bone screws” indicated