After eschewing our blogging duties during a very long trial—followed by short deliberations and a verdict for the good guys—we are back at it. Normally, a significant criterion in how we select a case for a post is the length of the decision—the shorter, the better for our normally busy work lives. After trial, there
“There is naked Nature, inhumanly sincere, wasting no thought on man, nibbling at the cliffy shore where gulls wheel amid the spray.”
We are presently on vacation, in the place that inspired Thoreau’s words above. The meeting of land and water, deceptive solidity sitting hard by the greatest force of caprice on the planet, has
Sometimes our weekly searches for what is going on in the drug and device world lead as outside the traditional products liability context that is our bread and butter. Occasionally that can be refreshing – a break from preemption and causation and TwIqbal. It’s also interesting to see how things like off-label use come
Have you ever had a plaintiff dead to rights with a dispositive motion, and instead of opposing the motion, the plaintiff moves for voluntary dismissal? We have, and it can be annoying as hell, especially if the judge is one of those who would rather not decide anything – and grants the plaintiff’s motion.
What
When we first wrote on public universities requiring COVID-19 vaccines, we wondered why there was any controversy. The government has been requiring vaccines in public schools for decades, and the constitutionality of government vaccine requirements has been settled for more than 100 years. Courts have agreed—including the Seventh Circuit, as we reported here.
But
On Monday, Bexis, laboring on Labor Day, blogged about a kooky Ohio decision ordering the off-label administration of an animal drug, ivermectin, to a seriously ill COVID-19 patient over the objections of that patient’s treating physicians and of the hospital in which the patient was being treated. The decision was kooky both medically and legally.
“Location, location, location” isn’t a mantra only for real estate agents. Location also matters to lawyers. In Axline v. 3M Co., 2021 WL 3411822 (8th Cir. Aug. 5, 2021), whether the Bair Hugger product liability case could go forward turned on the choice of law between Minnesota and Ohio. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the
We recently decried the Eighth Circuit’s continuing disregard of the expert gatekeeping function imposed by F.R. Evid. 702 in In re Bair Hugger Forced Air Warming Devices Products Liability Litigation, ___ F.4th ___, 2021 WL 3612753 (8th Cir. Aug. 16, 2021). Well, only four days later, the Fourth Circuit delivered a counterpoint in Sardis
We’ve read recently about a court taking the unprecedented step of ordering the off-label administration of an animal drug, ivermectin, to a seriously ill COVID-19 patient over the objections of that patient’s treating physicians and of the hospital in which the patient was being treated.
Off-label use is something we know a little bit about.
We write this as we prepare to leave for an overseas trip. We have our N95s, our face shields, and our vaccine card, along with a bit of apprehension and a large measure of giddy gratitude. It has been a long eighteen months (and counting). We’ll fill in some details next time, but we’ll sign