When you write a few hundred or more posts for a legal blog devoted to the somewhat niche subject of drug and device product liability law, you look for themes or hooks to keep both the writer and presumptive readers engaged. The themes may be fairly obvious based on the date of the post, the
Medical Device Manufacturers Are Not Health Care Providers, Right?
For the decades that we have been handling drug and medical device product liability cases, it has been a given that we wanted to make it clear that our clients did not provide medical care or healthcare directly to patients. For one thing, unauthorized practice of medicine would be bad. Also, when dealing with prescription
Oh, Snap (Removal)
The passage of time can change our collective perception of what is normal and accepted. By way of a somewhat contrived example, back in 1989, there was a popular cross-over rap song called “Just a Friend” by Biz Markie. It was catchy, entertaining, and a contrast to so-called “gangsta rap” that scared the Parents Music
A Chicken By Any Other Name
We really cannot say whether chicken by any other name would smell as sweet or even as chickeny. While we do not compare ourselves to the Bard, we can say that cultivated chicken meat cannot be sold in Florida to allow any such olfactory comparison there. The manufacturer of just such a product challenged the
Changing Fortunes In The Valsartan MDL?
For several years now, the Valsartan MDL has been something of a poster child for the problems with modern serial product liability litigation. It started with questionable data coming out of a questionable lab, leading to publicity and regulatory actions that outpaced reliable evidence of increased risk from an alleged carcinogenic contamination. It snowballed
Will Product Liability Cases Be Getting RICO’d?
We often say here that we try not to do the other side’s homework for them or give them ideas about new ways to sue our clients. When the Supreme Court takes a well-known statute and says, essentially, that it can now be applied in personal injury cases that also have economic damages, we do
Shrinking A Safe Harbor To Fit A Consumer Protection Class
In Hall v. Walgreens Boot Alliance, Inc., the Supreme Court of Washington considered a certified question from the Northern District of Illinois on an issue of Washington state law. No. 102829-6, 2025 Wash. LEXIS 145 (Wash. Mar. 20, 2025). The underlying case, a proposed consumer protection class action, involves the labeling of certain over-the-counter
Flooding The Zone Does Not Work For Opioid Plaintiffs In Maine
Collateral Litigation As A Deterrent Of Bogus Research?
From its start, the Blog has railed against certain expansions of traditional product liability that could have negative impacts on scientific progress and the availability of good medical products. Innovator liability, first described in Conte back in 2008, is a good example of a bad idea. Its offspring, the so-called duty to innovate
A Not-So-Brotherly Shove
Four weeks ago, we posted concerning an MDL judge’s decision not to sanction a plaintiff lawyer for false representations concerning diversity jurisdiction. We disputed that acting in the client’s “best interest” was a good excuse and questioned whether MDL courts cut plaintiff lawyers more slack than they should. We also had a bit of a