Today’s case is not a drug or device case. It’s not even a products liability case. But it does deal with sanctions against a plaintiff and his counsel for intentional spoliation of text messages—conduct that could (and undoubtedly has) taken place in prescription medical product liability litigation. So, we’ve added Pable v. Chicago Transit Authority,
No Cause of Action for Robbing the FDA of an Opportunity
If you’re a frequent visitor to the DDL blog, you’ll know all about products liability claims premised on defendants’ alleged failure to report adverse events to the FDA. You’ll also be acutely aware of what we think of such claims—they are flat-out preempted. Much to our dismay, not every court agrees with us. But recently
Bair Hugger MDL Dismisses Plaintiffs Who Ghosted Their Fact Sheets
This post comes from the non-Butler Snow side of the blog.
The Bair Hugger MDL has an up and down history. First, we lauded the district court’s Rule 702 rulings that led to summary judgment across the board for the defendant. But then the Eighth Circuit reversed. The cases came back to the district court
Personal Responsibility and Products Liability: Broken Doesn’t Mean Defective
Plaintiffs bring product liability suits against medical device manufacturers when outcomes fall short of expectations. Such as when a bone plate—a device surgically implanted to stabilize broken bones and enable proper healing—breaks. Now indulge us for a moment because Bexis and Yeary learned a lot about bone screws and orthopedic devices back in the day.
E.D. Missouri Tosses Out Kitchen Sink Complaint
The term “kitchen sink complaint” is not meant as a compliment. And the court did not use it as one in describing the proposed amended complaint in Ehlers v. Abiomed, Inc., — F. Supp. 3d –, 2025 WL 2029662, *9 (E.D. Mo. Jul. 21, 2025). The term refers to the tendency of some attorneys
W.D. Washington Keeps Plaintiff’s Expert In Her Lane
From a doctrinal standpoint, courts rely on a well-established principle: experts are permitted to testify to assist the fact-finder, not to persuade them with rhetorical flourish. Federal Rule of Evidence 702 permits experts to offer opinions grounded in their expertise, but that doesn’t open the floodgates to courtroom TED Talks. The moment an expert starts
The MDL Casino
Mulitdistrict litigations – both federal MDLs and their state-court equivalents – sound like noble endeavors. The concept is simple: consolidate similar lawsuits under one judge to streamline proceedings. This, in theory, avoids contradictory rulings and saves court resources. But when you pan out past the injured plaintiffs and mountains of medical records, you’ll spot one
Commonality Isn’t King
Just because something is common doesn’t mean it’s predominate, and it definitely doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Colds are common. So are traffic jams, mosquitos, and people who say, “Let’s circle back.” None of those things are dominant forces of greatness—they’re just annoyances we’ve sadly grown used to. Like plaintiffs seeking to certify products
New Jersey Goes Sideways on Failure to Report Claims
This post is not from the Reed Smith side of the Blog.
Welcome to the Garden State—where you can get cursed out in traffic, eat a pork roll (not a Taylor ham) sandwich that changes your life, and see a beautiful beach… all before 10 a.m. Where driving is both a sport and a trust
Putting Some Limits on Discovery
If Dante had practiced law, there’s a good chance he would have added a tenth circle of hell—discovery for defense attorneys. Imagine being slowly crushed under a mountain of PDFs, emails from 2007, and inexplicably sticky banker’s boxes. Let’s face it, some of us could update our bios to include—professional document archaeologist.
Discovery was theoretically