In re Deepwater Horizon Belo Cases, — F.4th –, 2024 WL 4522690 (11th Cir. Oct. 18, 2024), is not a drug or device case. It is the Eleventh Circuit’s review of the Northern District of Florida’s exclusion of the plaintiffs’ general causation experts in a toxic tort exposure case arising from the
Michelle Yeary
District of South Carolina Rejects Plaintiff’s “Better Late Than Never” Argument on Expert Reports
Ironically, today’s post is running a little late—because life’s not perfect and sometimes despite the best of intentions, you need a bit more time. But, if you are going to ask for more time to meet a court ordered deadline to submit evidence that is critical to your case, you better ask in advance and…
Fraud on the FDA Not an Exception to Noerr-Pennington Antitrust Immunity
We don’t usually weigh in on commercial disputes like antitrust cases. But In re Merck Mumps Vaccine Antitrust Litigation, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 25271 (3rd Cir. Oct. 7, 2024), is a 2-1 appellate decision that dismisses Sherman Act violation claims by favorably resolving allegations of fraud on the FDA. We do like to…
Reining in “Any and All” Discovery
Anyone who knows this blogger is well aware this is a topic near and dear to her heart. For years, plaintiffs railed against defendants making “boilerplate” objections to discovery requests. So much so that the issue was addressed by the 2015 Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. While Rule 33 for interrogatories already…
Discovery is a Two-Way Street; Even for Governmental Plaintiffs
So learned plaintiff in United States ex rel. Plaintiff v. Novo Nordisk, Inc., 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174825 (W.D. Wash. Sept. 26, 2024), when the court granted defendant’s two motions to compel obviously relevant documents and information.
Plaintiff relator and intervening plaintiff, the State of Washington, assert False Claims Act (“FCA”) claims against the…
E.D.N.Y. Finds Fraudulent Joinder of Sales Representative with No Connection to Plaintiff
Plaintiffs naming local sales representatives—or doctors, or pharmacies, or distributors, or retailers—as defendants to try to destroy diversity and avoid federal court is nothing new. Unfortunately, defendants bear a “heavy burden” proving fraudulently joinder. In fact, our last post on the topic was in February 2023, demonstrating that successes on this issue are few…
N.D. Cal. Gives Plaintiffs a Mulligan on Group Pleading and Jurisdiction
In golf, a mulligan is when a golfer hits a second shot if they’re not satisfied with their first shot. We’ve used the term before to refer to the second chances given to plaintiffs to re-plead their claims. So, we decided to look up the origin of the term and found conflicting stories. The most…
The Litigation Transparency Act of 2024
Today’s guest post is from our Dechert LLP colleagues Doug Fleming and Noah Becker. They examine the recently proposed Litigation Transparency Act. As always our guest bloggers deserve all of the credit (and any of the blame) for their efforts.
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Consider the following scenario — it’s not an unusual one in this brave…
Erie Doctrine Requires Narrow Interpretation of Florida Human Tissue Shield Statute
Adding to the growing favorable precedent concerning state human tissue shield statutes is Heitman v. Aziyo Biologics, Inc., 2024 WL 4019318 (N.D. Fla. Jul. 22, 2024).
The plaintiff alleged that he was infected with tuberculosis from an unfortunately contaminated human tissue allograft that was implanted in his spine during surgery. The plaintiff alleged…
General Causation Finally Sinks Acetaminophen MDL
Speaking of the United States’ newly ratified Constitution, Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1789: “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” We would like to add to this list another certainty—summary judgment in a drug case without expert proof of general causation. So, when the court excluded all of…