It’s a short work week, and we’ve got a short case for today’s discussion. Ebrahimi v. Mentor Worldwide LLC, 2020 WL 2510760 (9th Cir. May 12, 2020), eats up only one page when we set our printer to double-sided (which we always do now, since the pandemic work-at-home routine gobbles up paper and ink
Missouri Tort Reform: Abusive Lawsuits Won’t Keep Rolling Along
Missouri is central to America – geographically, culturally, and politically. Some of our greatest literature came from Missouri authors (Twain, Eliot, Angelou). Media figures as unifying as Walter Cronkite and as divisive as Rush Limbaugh at one time called Missouri home. American music wouldn’t be the same without tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins (listen to the
N.D. Cal. Decertifies Forgettable Class Action
“Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.” – Proust
The lesson of today’s case, Racies v. Quincy Biosciences, LLC, 2020 WL 2113852 (N.D. Cal. May 4, 2020), is worth remembering. Litigation can turn on recollections, and they can be fragile. (That is undoubtedly why documents end up
Seventh Circuit Nixes Negligent Misrepresentation Claim Premised on Alleged Discovery Violation in Prior, Settled Case
When a lawsuit settles, both sides get something. When one of our cases settles, one of the things we get is a raft of mixed emotions. Undeniably, there is a sense of relief. Three weeks of 20 hour days suddenly open up. We can go home. (That sounds a little funny now that we are
DDL Mock Draft
Over the past seven weeks we have been sports-starved. Back episodes of The Great British Baking Show do not quite make up for missing the start of baseball season and the NBA and NHL playoffs. But two things have ridden in to the rescue: (1) The Last Dance, the ESPN ten-part documentary about the
D. Conn. Sees Through Contact Lens Lawsuit
Personal jurisdiction seems to be the defense tool du jour in mass torts. The Bauman and BMS SCOTUS cases brought a new dawn. But let’s not forget the biggest hammer in the defense toolbox: preemption. How nice to lay eyes on a case that applies both of these defenses.
Doe v. Bausch & Lomb
Bingeing Behind the Covid Curtain
Happy non-tax day.
A new workplace makes for a new workday. Thanks to the pandemic, the new workplace is home. With the many beckonings of family or chores or television or, most seductive of all, the refrigerator, the workday at home is filled with interruptions. We Big Law drones learned long ago that our jobs
Delaware Court Dismisses Diabetes Drug Case
Some states seem stronger on FDA preemption than SCOTUS was in the Wyeth v. Levine decision. For example, Michigan, New Jersey, and Texas prevent or limit the ability of plaintiffs to sue over an FDA-approved drug, including attacks on the FDA-approved label. See, e.g., Texas Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 82.007. Sometimes
Breast Implant Preemption (the Sequel)
Last week we discussed the Jacob v. Mentor Worldwide, LLC case, in which a pro se plaintiff alleged injuries from breast implants and complained that the manufacturer had inadequately warned of the risks. The claim boiled down to an attack on the FDA-approved labeling of a class III medical device, and that meant it was
M.D. Fla. Holds Breast Implant Claims Preempted
No writer made as strong an impression on us in high school as Albert Camus. The opening of The Stranger is arresting: “Mother died today. Or maybe it was yesterday, I don’t know.” Our teacher pronounced The Plague to be an even better book, and he often quoted the bit about how we had “to