We’ve gleefully detailed the plaintiffs’ utter failure in the Zostavax MDL to establish causation. Now, the Gardasil MDL likewise seems well on the way to a place on the list (along with Bone Screw, Aredia/Zometa, Taxotere, and Zantac) of MDLs that plaintiffs’ counsel wish they’d given a miss. Maybe plaintiffs will
Search results for: gardasil
Gardasil MDL Sets Guardrails For Implied Preemption, And Gets It Right
By Lisa Baird on
Taking pot shots at “Big Pharma” is easy. Crack a joke about Big Pharma and you are sure to get a laugh. Amirite?
That is not to say there is never a fair point or two to be made about pharmaceutical development or marketing, or health care and the delivery of same in this country. …
Gardasil MDL Court Dismisses Plaintiffs Who Had Not Timely Filed in Vaccine Court
By Stephen McConnell on
We are not speaking for anyone else (clients, colleagues, our firm, etc.) when we say that drug and device product liability cases should be patterned after the Vaccine Act (42 U.S.C. Section 300aa-1 et seq.). It is faster, fairer, more predictable, and cheaper for everyone. From the defense side, we like that actions under the…
D. Nevada Dismisses Gardasil Vaccine Lawsuit
By Stephen McConnell on
Happy Star Wars Day. May the Fourth be with you.
If all FDA approved medicines enjoyed the preemption protection that vaccines do, the DDL product liability litigation landscape would be leaner and less nonsensical. Flores v. Merck & Co., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46442 (D. Nev. March 16, 2022), shows why that is so.…
Presenting the Presentment Clause
By Bexis on
Have you ever heard of the “Presentment Clause” to the United States Constitution? U.S. Const. Art. I §, cl. 2. While we can’t say that we had never heard of it – we are aware of presidential vetoes, pocket vetoes, and such – we had never had occasion to consider it in the context of the legal work we do defending prescription medical product liability litigation. That changed with In re Gardasil Products Liability Litigation, ___ F.4th ___, 2025 WL 2535105 (4th Cir. Sept. 4, 2025), which we recently discussed, here.Continue Reading Presenting the Presentment Clause
The Fourth Circuit Rejects Attempts To Avoid And Invalidate The Vaccine Act
By Eric Alexander on
As we have riffed on before, staying apolitical when discussing the science and law implicated by our posts can be harder than one might expect. That has become increasingly true with regard to litigation over alleged injuries from vaccines, to say nothing of vaccine mandates for public health. It was not terribly…
How Not To Create “Newly Acquired Information”
By Bexis on
Bexis is updating (probably for the last time) the preemption chapter of his drug and device product liability treatise, so expect blogposts like this on preemption-related topics.
Briefly, preemption in the prescription drug context is limited to implied preemption because, unlike medical devices, the FDCA lacks any preemption language applicable to those products. The…
Arbitrary and Capricious Action as a Management Style
By Bexis on
When a federal agency reverses course, the Supreme Court has a test to determine whether that agency action is impermissibly “arbitrary and capricious.” FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., 556 U.S. 502 (2009), set the current APA standard for review of federal agency flipflops. While no “heightened standard” exists under the APA for reversals…
Making Litigation Great Again -The Ten Best Prescription Drug/Medical Device Decisions of 2024
By Bexis on
Another year down (and only one more to go for Bexis), and that means, in addition to dreidels, creches, and Santa Claus, it’s time for our annual top ten best prescription medical product liability litigation decisions. As we’ve pointed out before, for an opinion to be eligible for our annual top (or bottom) ten lists…
Constitutional Challenge To The Vaccine Act Misses The Mark
By Eric Alexander on
In simpler times for those of us of a certain age, what we learned in elementary school was often supplemented during Saturday mornings watching cartoons. While you could pick up some information watching Super Friends or Captain Caveman, the catchy songs and minimalist animation of Schoolhouse Rock! really helped to teach children a range…