The SCOTUS decision in the Wyeth v. Levine case created much mischief in the field of preemption. The Court’s sloppy overstatement of the significance and availability of the Changes Being Effected (CBE) process breathed new life into prescription drug failure to warn cases that should have been safely interred at the pleadings stage. As bad
Reading the Zoom
We are recovering from a near-trial experience. It settled at the beginning of jury selection, and with that settlement came the usual mixture of relief and letdown. Colleagues congratulate you on the resolution, and you’re not sure what to say. It was certainly a good settlement for the client. But our team had worked up
E.D. Louisiana Dismisses Weight-Loss Product Liability and Med-Mal Claims
The plaintiff in Vesoulis v. Reshape Lifesciences, 2021 WL 1909725 (E.D. Louisiana May 12, 2021), was a dentist. So if he was complaining about pain and suffering, we’d step back and take notice. (Think of the Steve Martin song from the Little Shop of Horrors musical film.) The plaintiff certainly did have something
FDA Safe Harbor Does Not Bar Cat Food Class Action
Pet owners are among this blog’s readers (and writers) so every once in a while we check in on the law governing drugs used to treat animals. Yes, such drugs are governed by the FDA. And yes, there can be something approximating or adjacent to preemption applying to such animal drugs. But not always.
Van
D. Minnesota Dumps Non-Diverse Plaintiff’s Claim for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction
Today’s case, BCBSM, Inc. v. Celgene Corp., 2021U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52785 (March 22, 2021), is an antitrust case. The plaintiffs alleged that a pharma company suppressed generic competition. We enjoy reading antitrust cases, always doing so with a healthy skepticism about the merits of the claims. We did, after all, attend the University of
SDNY Dismisses Hernia Mesh Claims
Covid has altered how and where we practice law. Along the way, it has also improved our exercise regimen. Every couple of days, we receive bankers boxes of binders and documents and then tote them upstairs to what passes for our home office.
For some reason, that makes us think of hernia mesh litigation.
Cosh
Texas Presumption of Adequacy Precludes Prempro Claims
Happy San Jacinto Day. On April 21, 1836, Texans won the battle of San Jacinto, the last battle of the Texas revolution, in which Texas secured its independence from Mexico. In the past 185 years, Texans have never ceased showing an independent streak.
That is true for Texas product liability law. It is uncommonly sensible.
Law in the Time of The Covid
We got our second anti-Covid jab this week, so we’ll celebrate by discussing a COVID/PREP Act case. The PREP Act (PREP stands for “Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness”) declaration of immunity is limited to “covered countermeasures” obtained either through agreement with the federal government or otherwise in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of
E.D. Virginia Reins in Horse Drug Class Action
In Knapp v. Zoetis Inc., 2021 U.S. Dist. 63783 (E.D. Va. March 31, 2021), the plaintiff alleged that administration of an equine antibiotic caused his horse, Boomer, to experience “persistent lameness” and permanent damage to the “musculature in his neck.” Boomer was not okay. His condition was far from stable.
The plaintiff claimed that
Delaware Court Gives Short Shrift to Priapism Claim
The drive from our home to the Delaware courthouse takes no more time than the drive to the Philly courthouse. But those two courthouses are worlds apart. The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas is plaintiffs’ heaven. Most judges there think everything should go to a jury, and most jurors there think heaps of money should