When Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (“JASTA”), 18 U.S.C. §2333, back in 1992, it no doubt thought it was enlisting the plaintiffs’ bar to go after Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, Daesh, and others of that ilk. But good intentions do not a successful statute make. The other side of the “v.” is is
February 2022
Pennsylvania – Big Brother Will Sue You Now
Today’s case isn’t drug/device, but it’s something our defense-oriented readers should know about. At the tail end of 2021, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court laid this rotten egg: Commonwealth v. Monsanto Co., ___ A.3d ___, 2021 WL 6139209 (Pa. Cmwlth. Dec. 30, 2021) (“CvM”). The Commonwealth Court is a unique Pennsylvania judicial body,…
Court Allows Fraud and Misrepresentation Claims to Proceed Despite the Learned Intermediary Doctrine
A federal court applying Florida law has refused to dismiss fraud and misrepresentation claims brought by a patient against a medical-device manufacturer, rejecting the manufacturer’s contention that such claims are categorically barred by the learned-intermediary doctrine.
It is perhaps telling that the decision, Pirlein v. Ethicon, Inc., Med. Devices Rep. ¶ 24,799 (S.D. Fla.…
Fla. Ct. of Appeal Refuses to Force Mayo Clinic to Treat Covid Patient with Ivermectin, etc.
Don’t stop us if you’ve heard this before, because we know you have. Plaintiffs cannot compel hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients with ivermectin.
A Florida appellate court recently joined courts in Delaware (we wrote about the Delaware case here), Michigan (here), New York (here), and Texas (here) in…
Don’t Overlook “I Don’t Recall” Testimony
Today’s post is not about something cutting edge or controversial. It’s a don’t lose sight of the basics kind of post. Plaintiff bears the burden of proof on causation. In a prescription drug failure to warn case, that means plaintiff must demonstrate that a different warning would have changed whether the drug would have been…
Plaintiff MDL Censuses – Probably Worse Than Nothing
MDL defendants in prescription medical product liability MDLs have been complaining for years about thousands of cases being brought without the slightest pre-filing vetting – “plaintiffs” who cannot establish that they ever actually used the products of the defendant(s) they have sued and/or who similarly have no proof that they suffered the injury(ies) as to…
Good “Comment k” Decision in Pain Pump Case out of E.D.Pa.
We report, with excitement and apprehension, that we have tickets to see Hugh Jackman as Harold Hill in The Music Man next month on Broadway. The Drug and Device Law Dowager Countess blushes and giggles at the mention of Jackman, and the outing seemed a worthy one, not without apparent urgency given time’s ravages (the…
Never Satisfied But Motion For New Trial Denied
Here are some things you probably will not hear very often, if at all: 1) a fervent supporter of a defeated political candidate agreeing that the winning elected official has done a good job, regardless of economic growth, infrastructure projects, public health progress, or some other measure of good government; 2) a fervent supporter of…
N.D. Illinois Holds that Marketing of Infants’ and Childrens’ OTC Meds was not Deceptive
It is Groundhog Day. So we will write about a fact pattern we’ve written about before. Multiple times.
We cringe whenever we see a case involving over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and children. It brings back memories of lawsuits with sympathetic plaintiffs and difficult facts. We remember one case in which a three year old gobbled half…
Tipping the Scales on Failure to Report in Missouri
In our 50-state survey on failure to report claims, we described Missouri as an “up in the air” state, with courts on both sides of the issue failing to cite or consider prior significant precedent. Now the Eastern District of Missouri has weighed in bringing the issue a little closer to the ground.
In Schnulle…