The more the merrier is not always true. Ask any defendant in a trial that consolidates the claims of multiple plaintiffs. The existence of multiple plaintiffs can conjure up an inference of guilt. If you are accused of hurting more than one person, that seems to increase the chance that the factfinder will conclude that
S.D. Ohio Dismisses Device Case for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction
Whenever defense hacks get together, the conversation inevitably turns to horror stories about hostile jurisdictions. There is another word for those jurisdictions, and you know it well. We’ll mangle a phrase from the poet William Blake and call those jurisdictions satanic litigation mills. There’s a chance we’re headed for such a place soon, a place
SCOTUS Roundup
That title might be overblown, because we are discussing only two cases. But one of them is the Roundup case, and we could not resist the cheesy wordplay.
Roundup is neither a drug nor device. It is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), not the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Nevertheless, the Federal Insecticide
Third Circuit Upholds Rule 702 Admissibility of Probabilistic Genotype Evidence
Emile Bove’s nomination to the Third Circuit was controversial. We do not know enough about that controversy to offer an opinion, but we know it was about politics, and there is little reason for you to care about our political opinions. As we reflect back over the years, we calculate that our political opinions have
N.D. Illinois Nixes Chocolate Fraud Lawsuit; Holds that the Illinois Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act Does Not Create a Private Right of Action
Foster v. Nestle USA, Inc., 2026 WL 893348 (N.D. Ill. March 31, 2026), is not a drug or device case, but it is noteworthy because the court held that there was no private right of action under the Illinois Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Then again, the case is about chocolate, and chocolate has
J&J MDL Court Agrees with New Jersey State Appellate Court that Lead Plaintiff Law Firm Must be Disqualified
On February 11, we blogged about the New Jersey Appellate Court’s disqualification of a lead plaintiff firm (Beasley Allen) in the Johnson & Johnson New Jersey state court talc litigation because that firm had been canoodling with a lawyer who had formerly worked for J&J. Okay, “canoodling” is not exactly a technical, legal term, but
D. Kansas Holds No Negligence Per Se for Violations of Federal and State Hospital Cleanliness Regulations
Kansas has given us many great people and institutions. We Philadelphians are particularly grateful for Darren Daulton, the late, great Phillies catcher. We have also enjoyed the work of Charlie Parker, Buster Keaton, and, of course, Dorothy Gale. Further, the Kansas college basketball team is perennially very good. (But that was a tough loss last
EDPA Dismisses Acthar RICO/Antitrust/Fraud Case
At the DDL blog we unashamedly confess our biases. Foremost among those biases is that we walk the defense side of the street. Another inescapable bias, at least for this particular scribbler, is that we know and like many of the Philly judges. In the City of Brotherly Love, familiarity breeds respect.
Over the past
Hoosier Daddy: PREP Act Immunity Version
A chunk of our family recently relocated to Indiana, a lovely state that spawned prominent Americans such as Orville Redenbacher, Eli Lilly, Larry Bird, David Letterman, Michael Jackson, and James Dean, and that possesses fine covered bridges, a suddenly fearsome college football team, and a remarkable library that houses, among other things, the original manuscripts
SDNY Holds that Defendant AI Inquiries Made Without Counsel’s Input Were not Shielded by Attorney-Client Privilege or Work Product Doctrine
We’ve become aware that some clients are using artificial intelligence (AI) to summarize or analyze things like complaints, briefs, internal documents, or even – horror of horrors! – law firm bills. If the client performing these tasks is an in-house lawyer, such work might be protected by the attorney client privilege or work product doctrine