Today’s opinion, In re SoClean, Inc., Mktg., Sales Pracs., & Prods. Liab. Litig., No. 22-MC-00152-JFC, 2025 WL 974258 (Sp. Mstr. W.D. Pa. Mar. 20, 2025), involves a lot of case-specific discussion with little applicability to the broader readership of the Blog. But it also contains some general observations regarding invading the province of the FDA that are “so fresh and so clean” (if this litigation name takes you back, as it does us, to circa 2000 Outkast).Continue Reading Same Rule, Different Setting: Litigants Cannot Usurp the FDA’s Authority
No Shock Here: D. Mass. Holds Complaint Regarding Class III Medical Device Preempted
Today’s case has shocking facts but not a shocking result. It should come as no surprise that a complaint attacking the safety of an FDA-approved Class III medical device is squarely preempted by the express preemption provision of the Medical Device Amendments, 21 U.S.C. § 360k(a). But somehow, 17 years post-Riegel, that still does not seem to deter plaintiffs from filing plainly preempted claims.Continue Reading No Shock Here: D. Mass. Holds Complaint Regarding Class III Medical Device Preempted
BioZorb Decision Hits the Mark
The word of the day is targeted. Targeted discovery on a targeting device and a district court laser-focused on the failure to warn causation target. The end result is a decisive defense win on failure to warn. See In re Biozorb Device Prods. Liab. Litig., 1:23-cv-10599-ADB, No. 1:22-CV-11895-ADB, 2025 WL 509834 (D. Mass. Feb.
No Jumping the Queue in Paraquat MDL
Today’s decision is not from a drug or device case but raises an interesting MDL procedural issue we see from time to time: Plaintiffs trying to jump the queue and avoid the MDL process. In re Paraquat Prods. Liab. Litig., No. 3:23-pq-02887, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12392 (S.D. Ill. Jan. 23, 2025).Continue Reading No Jumping the Queue in Paraquat MDL
New Proportionality Language for Florida Rules
For our friends practicing in the Sunshine State, we want to highlight new rules amendments which took effect on January 1, 2025. Most notably, Florida joins states around the country adopting the proportionality language from Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1). See Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.280(c).Continue Reading New Proportionality Language for Florida Rules
A Five-STAR Preemption Decision from the N.D. Okla.
Today we report on the court’s order granting Defendant’s motion to dismiss in Keim-Bacon v. Stryker Corp., No. 4:22-CV-00383-WPJ-MTS, 2024 WL 4886051, at *1 (N.D. Okla. Nov. 25, 2024). It is a straightforward application of Riegel preemption that gets it right on all fronts.
The Scandinavian Total Ankle Replacement System (“STAR”) is a Class
Court Shuts Down Expansion of New York Nuisance Law
Today’s case is not a drug or device case, but its holding is helpful to our clients who face state law nuisance claims arising from the acts of third parties.Continue Reading Court Shuts Down Expansion of New York Nuisance Law
California District Court Punts on Learned Intermediary Causation Post-Himes
We posted earlier this year about the failure to warn causation decision from the California Supreme Court in Himes v. Somatics, 549 P.3d 916 (Cal. 2024), and the potential parade of horribles that might ensue. Here comes the grand marshal of the parade.Continue Reading California District Court Punts on Learned Intermediary Causation Post-Himes
Taxotere Lone Pine Continues to Stand
Today we revisit the Lone Pine order for the Taxotere MDL. We previously discussed the entry of the Lone Pine order and the court’s denial of plaintiffs’ motion to reconsider entry of the order. Here, plaintiffs tried once again to take an axe to the Lone Pine, this time by arguing that it is unfair specifically with respect to deceased plaintiffs. The court roundly rejected plaintiffs’ arguments. In re: Taxotere (Docetaxel) Prods. Liab. Litig., 2024 WL 4362982 (E.D. La. Oct. 1, 2024).Continue Reading Taxotere Lone Pine Continues to Stand
N.D. Fla. Rejects Post-Removal Attempt to Amend to Defeat Diversity
We wrote a few days ago about a favorable ruling on a state human tissue shield statute in Heitman v. Aziyo Biologics, Inc. (N.D. Fla.). That case gave us another good procedural ruling to share, rejecting a trick we see all too often: an attempt to join a non-diverse defendant post-removal.Continue Reading N.D. Fla. Rejects Post-Removal Attempt to Amend to Defeat Diversity