This post comes from the non-Butler Snow side of the blog.
Today’s case gives us two cautionary tales. First, there are many ways to make friends with a court. Dumping thousands of exhibits onto its doorstep and saying, “You figure it out,” is not one of them. Second, taking documents stamped CONFIDENTIAL or HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL
In the 1980s, when a wave of complicated, expensive, and hard to prove lawsuits against the vaccine industry threatened to drive many manufacturers out of the market and subsequently cause a public health crisis, Congress stepped in and enacted the Vaccine Act which created the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. It is designed to strike
We have seen a recent plague of purported class actions against various FDA-regulated OTC products that include allegations of contamination (usually benzene) that are purportedly supported by “independent laboratory” testing. Fortunately, we have also seen these cases dismissed one after another for a variety of reasons, including lack of standing. Today’s case is a great
We call a treating physician who testifies to more than just their treatment a hybrid expert. But doctors who both treat and testify can sometimes be less “Doctor Do No Harm” and more “Doctor Show Me the Money.” And when their treatment comes under a letter of protection (“LOP”), things get even murkier. Like, swampy
You know it’s going to be an interesting ride when the appellate brief reads like a conspiracy theory starter pack. Which is how we read the issues raised on appeal in Thelen v. Somatics, LLC, — F4th –, 2025 WL 2749888 (11th Cir. Sep. 29, 2025): erroneous entry of summary judgment on design
It’s MLB playoff season and once again the Milwaukee Brewers are at the top of the field. They, along with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs, have all secured a home-field advantage in the playoffs. That means those teams have the tactical edge of getting the final at-bat in each inning and overall. They
2024 was a big year for blood and tissue shield statute decisions across the country (from Florida, California, North Carolina, Illinois, and Ohio). And it looks like we added Oregon to the tally this year, but we let Kentucky and Nelson v. Aziyo Biologics, Inc., 2025 WL 2045167 (E.D. Ken.
Today’s guest post is from Dechert’s Brooke Meadowcroft who brings us her take on an unfortunate learned intermediary ruling out of Illinois. As always, our guest posters deserve 100% of the praise (and any of blame) for their posts. Not that we expect the latter.
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The learned intermediary doctrine is the elegant legal principle
It’s twenty-four years post-Buckman and here we are still talking about the dismissal of cases premised on allegations that a manufacturer made misrepresentations to the FDA. Which means plaintiffs are still filing them. We thought Buckman was the legal equivalent of a big red “STOP” sign. But it seems not everyone got the message.