It’s very hard to win a fraudulent joinder motion on the merits and thus keep a case in federal court. In fact, when we looked back at the topic on the blog, our last post on the issue was over one year ago. And the two posts before that were from the Third Circuit
Federal Preemption KOs Economic Loss Claims in Biologics MDL
Making its presence felt as an early contender for a 2019 Top Ten DDL case, it’s In re: Genentech, Inc., Herceptin (Trastuzumab) Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation, 2019 WL 1284176 (N.D. Okla. Mar. 20, 2019). The challengers came in swinging, but they were no match for federal preemption. Down go plaintiffs! (We hear that
Plaintiffs Get to Keep Windfall Damages
Skin in the game. Horse in the race. Dog in the hunt. Whatever “it” is – we don’t have “it” in today’s case. Ansley v. Banner Health Care is a suit brought by plaintiffs who had received damages awards for injuries that required treatment at various hospitals seeking to enjoin those hospitals from enforcing liens
Plaintiff Loses in a Game of “What If …”
Child: “Can I have ice cream before dinner?”
Parent: “No”
Child: “What if it’s strawberry ice cream?”
Parent: “Still, no”
Child: “What if my teacher told me I had to eat ice cream for homework?”
Parent: “Still, no”
Child: “What if a monster ran in here right now and said I had to eat ice
Brand & Generic Defendants Win in Amiodarone Litigation
You’ll find plenty of decisions from the amiodarone litigation discussed on the blog. Not surprisingly, because it is a generic drug, they almost exclusively focus on Mensing preemption – or we should say on plaintiffs’ attempts to bypass Mensing. But there are cases involving exposure to the branded product as well. And earlier this
Another Wrinkle Removal Upheld
Earlier this month we explained that a “wrinkle removal,” was one that capitalized on a “wrinkle” in the language of 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b)(2), which provides that a case cannot be removed on the basis of diversity if any “properly joined and served” defendant is a citizen of the forum state. But if the forum
Lone Pine By Any Other Name . . .
MDLs are complicated. MDLs are chaotic, messy, and ugly unless they have structure and order. Bringing order to chaos. Something this blogger has championed for what’s starting to be more years than she wants to readily discuss. But without order, think of The Blob (the original 1958, Steve McQueen flick). It creeps. It crawls. It
Seventh Circuit Rejects Novel Causation Theory
Having three experts couldn’t save plaintiff’s claims in Robinson v. Davol Inc., 2019 WL 275555 (7th Cir. Jan. 22, 2019). Plaintiffs’ decedent underwent surgery involving a surgical mesh patch and approximately one year later, she developed an abdominal wall abscess that led to various infections that ultimately led to her death. Id. at *2.
Supply Agreement Not Enough for Personal Jurisdiction (as if BMS hadn’t taught us that already)
A complaint gets filed in California naming hundreds of plaintiffs, only 20 of whom reside in California, against out-of-state manufacturers. Sound familiar? Sound like something the Supreme Court rejected in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court, 137 S. Ct. 1773 (2017). It should. So, why are we here again? I guess you can credit
Eighth Circuit Doesn’t Let Swallowing Pills Swallow the Statute of Limitations
We did a search of the DDL Blog for “continuing violation” and found only one other reference and that was simply to note that the court rejected the theory without explanation. So, it’s not the first time a plaintiff has tried to argue the continuing violation theory to avoid the statute of limitations in a