Yesterday we did our annual best of/worst of CLE, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: The Best and Worst Drug/Medical Device and Vaccine Decisions of 2025”. It was good fun for us presenters and hopefully at least mildly educational and entertaining for the audience. (If you missed it, the video replay will be available
Don’t Cry For Me Taxotere
There are two main issues that make the eyes of your dutiful Drug and Device Law bloggers well up in frustration over In re Taxotere (Docetaxel) Eye Inj. Prods. Liab. Litig., No. 3023, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 233514, 2025 WL 3442731 (E.D. La. Dec. 1, 2025).
The first is a gut-level, “this is an
Time to Chuck Lohr Out The Window and Start Over With Riegel?
We have been mulling over Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369 (2024) and federal preemption.
Yes, we need a life, but let’s put that aside for the moment.
In particular, we’ve been reviewing a rash of complaints where plaintiffs contend that the FDA’s decisions about whether to grant or deny premarket approval
Fishing Expedition? Snipe Hunt!
Is it really an opposition to a motion to compel if the brief does not bemoan the plaintiff’s discovery “fishing expedition”?
We don’t think so. A license to practice law seems to mandate that the holder must use the fishing expedition metaphor whenever discovery is the topic. As a result, we were a little amused
Obvious Public Service Announcement Of The Day: When It Changes, Update Your Email Address With The Court. And If Your Case Has Gone Suspiciously Quiet, Maybe Check The Docket Or Call The Clerk.
As defense lawyers, we have dealt many a time with plaintiffs’ attorneys who get away with just about everything. Failing to appear for hearings. Failing to oppose motions. Ignoring court orders. Ignoring discovery requests.
When unjustified, such acts of neglect should not be excused, but they often are. Courts are predisposed to decide cases on
PREP Act Immunity and Constitutional Challenges: Searcy v. Pfizer
The intersection of the PREP Act federal immunity statute and constitutional law continues to shape the landscape of COVID-19 vaccine litigation. In Searcy v. Pfizer, Inc., __ F. Supp. 3d __, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186682, 2025 WL 2713736 (M.D. Ala. Sept. 23, 2025), the Middle District of Alabama addressed a wrongful death action
All’s Well That Ends Well? Eh, Fine, If You Say So.
The preemption case du jour is Gregory v. Boston Sci. Corp., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 164801, 2025 WL 2452382 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 25, 2025), in which the Eastern District of New York granted summary judgment on federal preemption grounds.
Every time we see a case that does that—upholds preemption on summary judgment—we wonder
Ninth Circuit Gets On Board With The Rule 702 Amendments
Not that long ago (last time we posted), the Sixth Circuit issued an unpublished opinion that affirmed the exclusion of an expert (yay!) but missed the boat on the amendments to Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and its reinforcement of the expert exclusion test (boo!).
Today, we get to tell you about a
Sixth Circuit Confirms That Rule 702 Is Too Steep A Hill To Climb For Materials Science Expert
This post is from the non-Butler Snow side of the blog.
In Hill v. Medical Device Business Services, Inc., No. 24-5797, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 17835, 2025 WL 1950300 (6th Cir. July 16, 2025), the Sixth Circuit affirmed an expert exclusion/Rule 702/Don’t Say Daubert decision in a case that we last wrote about
Contributory Negligence, Warnings Causation, Or Both
Legal problems are often multi-faceted. Turned one way, the problem looks like one issue. Turn it around, and a different issue glimmers in your eye.
For example, in Saulsby v. Amphastar Pharm., Inc., __ S.E.2d ___, 2025 N.C. App. LEXIS 420, 2025 WL 1812450 (N.C. App. July 2, 2025), the North Carolina Court of