We’ve got a copy of the Reply Brief filed by defendant Wyeth in the Wyeth v. Levine case. Here are the highlights as we see them (we’re trying to stay away from the Phenergan or Wyeth specific stuff):
We really shouldn’t complain about the burden after we voluntarily assume a duty.
After all, we created the Drug Preemption Scorecard, the Device Preemption Scorecard, the No Injury Scorecard, and the Cross-Jurisdictional Class Action Tolling Scorecard, and we know that, having created those resources, we’re duty-bound to keep ’em current. (But we’re not your lawyers!
Everybody’s a critic.
We published a post last month analyzing Gunvalson v. PTC Therapeutics (here’s a link), in which a federal judge ordered a company to provide an experimental drug to a dying patient who did not qualify for a clinical trial. We wrote:
“Basically, a drug company would be crazy to open
We’ve grown accustomed to hearing complaints that the Food and Drug Administration is powerless. “How can the Agency possibly cause companies to act responsibly?,” critics (and plaintiffs’ counsel) ask. Historically, the FDA lacked the power to order product recalls, and its authority is limited in other ways. Companies, we’re told, run roughshod over the Agency.
Having been in this business (defending pharmaceutical product liability) for a long time now, we’ve learned that what happens to prescribing doctors often comes back to haunt our clients. Nowhere is that better illustrated than with the thankfully discredited theory of regulatory informed consent, which since we’ve already discussed it, here, we won’t go
This post, at TortDeform, tells us that a consortium of plaintiffs’ firms will now be paying law students to work the new media — blogs, forums, Facebook, Twitter, and the like — in favor of plaintiff’s-side causes:
“Initial duties will be to assist the firms with their public relations campaigns through blogging on the InjuryBoard.com
Yesterday, we were ignorant.
Today, we’re still ignorant, but at least we know where the words “meme” and “Internet meme” come from. You can click through those links for all the details, but here’s the money quote from Wikipedia’s definition of an “Internet meme”:
“At its most basic, an Internet meme
Summer’s over, and that means that the speaking invitations are starting to arrive.
The biggest of the events at which one of us has accepted an invitation to speak is ACI’s 13th Annual Drug and Medical Device Litigation conference in New York City on December 9 through 11.
And — for a limited time only,
This is a follow-up to last week’s post describing the multidistrict litigation process.
Once clients understand the basic mechanics of the MDL process, the next question is: How long will it take?
If someone files a motion for centralization with the MDL Panel today, when will the Panel hear argument and issue its decision,
We just received this e-mail about a video webcast that will be available tomorrow:
“Courtroom View Network (“CVN”) will provide a live and on demand video webcast of oral arguments on a motion to remand State of West Virginia v. Eli Lilly & Co. back to West Virginia state courts on Tuesday, September 9.