In our personal jurisdiction posts, we’ve generally taken a dim view of plaintiffs who attempt to oppose Rule 12(b)(2) dismissal motions with requests for jurisdictional discovery. Both our experience and our perspective leads us to view such requests as overwhelmingly likely to be fishing expeditions, designed more to delay and to increase the expense of
Guest Post – Will the Supreme Court Reverse Wyeth v. Levine?
We have another guest post by friend-of-the-blog, Dick Dean of Tucker Ellis, along with his associate, Emmanuel Sanders. This post speculates on whether recent personnel changes on the United States Supreme Court might mean the end of the case we call the “number of the beast,” Wyeth v. Levine, 555 U.S. 555
No! (from) Canada
We’ve heard politicians advocate importing “cheaper” prescription medical products from Canada for years. We’ve always thought the idea was ludicrous. As we said, a little more than two years ago:
Think about it. California alone has a greater population than Canada. Any large-scale importation of cheaper Canadian drugs to the United States would almost immediately
Breaking News − Major Expansion Of PREP Act Immunity
We’ve already commented about the broad scope of tort immunity conferred by the March, 2020 Notice of Declaration under the Public Readiness & Emergency Preparedness Act (“PREP Act”), 42 U.S.C. §247d-6d. That original immunity covered all aspects of government-related or sponsored production and use of anti-COVID countermeasures. It was, as one of our colleagues put
Zitney Now a Published Decision
A little over a month ago, we blogged about the Pennsylvania Superior Court (the Commonwealth’s general intermediate appellate court deciding a test case, Zitney v. Wyeth LLC, 2020 WL 6129173 (Pa. Super. Oct. 19, 2020), that held, as a matter of first impression, that there was no separate duty for a prescription medical product
TwIqbal in Third Circuit “Parallel Claim” Preemption Cases
Perhaps the biggest conflict among the circuits in PMA preemption cases involves the extent to which plaintiffs can get away with pleading essentially nothing to support supposed “parallel” violation claims, on the one hand, or on the other must plead a particularized violation of an FDA regulation (usually a “Current Good Manufacturing Practice” or “CGMP”)
Shameless Plug: Virtual ACI Drug & Device Conference (December 8-9)
As we mentioned, several of your Reed Smith bloggers are making plans to attend ACI’s annual Drug and Medical Device Litigation conference, as they celebrate the 25th anniversary of the event. We’re looking forward to great content and virtual networking opportunities – and maybe even the chance to catch up with some of
Reviewing Pre-PREP Act Mass Vaccination Cases
Although as of yet the data has not been peer reviewed, or subjected to the necessary administrative and scientific scrutiny, there has been considerable recent good news regarding the efficacy of two COVID-19 vaccines, being developed by Pfizer and Moderna, respectively.
It is now more likely than ever that within a few months the
First Amendment Circuit Split Develops
When we last reviewed the general state of First Amendment jurisprudence, we concluded that on the United States Supreme Court there was “a slim, but solid, First Amendment majority.” Our basis for that conclusion was last term’s decision in Barr v. American Assn. of Political Consultants, Inc., 140 S. Ct. 2335 (2020),
Shameless Plug: Discounted registration to ACI Drug and Med for our readers
In 2020, many things are the same, yet different, and industry conferences are just one example. As in-person events (or in-person anything, for that matter) have been relegated to the sidelines, we have seen the emergence of the virtual conference, which replicates most aspects of the in-person conference, with the added benefit that there is