It’s neither drugs nor devices today.
It’s fish.
Actually, it’s Farm Raised Salmon, in which the California Supreme Court this morning unanimously rejected the defendants’ preemption defense.
We’re a little tied up today. In fact, if not for the seeming imperative of being first to speak in the blogosphere, we’d take the night to
JAMES M. BECK is Reed Smith's only Senior Life Sciences Policy Analyst, resident in the firm's Philadelphia office. He is the author of, among other things, Drug and Medical Device Product Liability Handbook (2004) (with Anthony Vale). He wrote the seminal law review article on off-label use cited by the Supreme Court in Buckman v. Plaintiffs Legal Committee. He has written more amicus briefs for the Product Liability Advisory Council than anyone else in the history of the organization, and in 2011 won PLAC's highest honor, the John P. Raleigh award. He has been a member of the American Law Institute (ALI) since 2005. He is the long-time editor of the newsletter of the ABA's Mass Torts Committee. He is vice chair of the Class Actions and Multi-Plaintiff Litigation SLG of DRI's Drug and Device Committee. He can be reached at jmbeck@reedsmith.com. His LinkedIn page is here.
The Berenson Bears
Here’s yet more on the e-mail that Pepper Hamilton allegedly mis-directed to Alex Berenson of the NYT instead of co-counsel Bradford Berenson at Sidley & Austin.
Although we missed the original broadcast, apparently Alex read the two-sentence e-mail from Pepper in its entirety on a show on National Public Radio.
Here’s a blogger’s take on…
Class Actions in Denmark
We’ve fretted about storm clouds overseas before (here and here); we’re still fretting now.
Effective January 1, 2008, plaintiffs can pursue class actions in Denmark.
Hat tip to Point of Law.
The Great Suicide Debate (Suicidality in epilepsy trials)
The New York Times ticked us off again this morning.
Not as much as it did last month, but it annoyed us nonetheless.
The front page of the Week in Review section has a piece titled “Making Sense of the Great Suicide Debate.” Here’s a link.
The article quotes (and appropriately identifies as…
FDA Takes Strong Stand Against Regulatory Expert Testimony
Coming in at number 2 on our list of the top ten worst court decisions of 2007, was the Missouri opinion Strong v. American Cyanamid – for a lot of reasons, including the court’s allowance of thinly-disguised FDCA-based negligence per se claim contrary to Missouri law, and the court’s expansive reliance upon expert testimony on…
Department of Corrections
By now, you know the urban legend: A partner at Pepper Hamilton wanted to send her co-counsel at Sidley & Austin, Bradford Berenson, an e-mail containing confidential details about a proposed billion-dollar settlement of civil and criminal charges relating to Eli Lilly’s marketing of Zyprexa. She accidentally sent the e-mail to Alex Berenson, of The…
Welcome, Philadelphia Inquirer readers!
We enjoyed yesterday’s foray into investigative journalism — we got a chance to call the reporter, for a change.
And our report prompted the Philadelphia Inquirer to mention our little blog on the front page of today’s business section.
We extend a warm welcome to our new visitors from the City of Brotherly Love.
What Happens If We Win? – Violation Claims
Ok, we’ve worried about what might happen if our side (the defense, for any new readers) were to lose the preemption wars currently in progress before the Supreme Court. Today we’re going to speculate a bit about what might happen if we win. Suppose that the Court in Kent for a second time drives a…
It Wasn’t Pepper’s Fault! Berenson Confirms.
Since we’re pharmaceutical product liability defense lawyers, we keep our ears pretty close to the ground in that sandbox. (Yeah, yeah: We get a lot of sand in our ears.) Anyway, we heard rumors that we had spread false information. We had written that a mis-directed e-mail from Pepper Hamilton to Alex Berenson of The…
Ouch! So That’s How The NYT Found Out!
This little ditty from portfolio.com reports that a lawyer for Eli Lilly at Pepper Hamilton meant to send an e-mail about the billion-dollar Zyprexa settlement talks to co-counsel Bradford Berenson at Sidley & Austin.
Instead, the lawyer accidentally sent the e-mail to Alex Berenson at The New York Times.
Oops.