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
Is the question we are asking ourselves after reading Butler v. 3M Company, 2024 WL 5054884 (S.D. Ohio Dec. 9, 2024). Because if plaintiffs get to amend their complaints post-remand to add whole new claims and allegations, then the MDL process of litigating based on a master complaint doesn’t seem to make a lot
Although Mark Herrmann co-founded the Drug and Device Law Blog (with Bexis) way back in the day, he now writes for Above the Law. Unlike Above the Law, the Drug and Device Law Blog generally does not feature benchslaps—judicial opinions that take a swipe at counsel for their professional misdeeds. Though we may
Just about three months ago, we blogged about Rule 25 dismissals in the Bair Hugger MDL, and today we bring you more of the same from Taxotere. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25 provides that “[i]f a party dies . . . the court may order substitution of the proper party.” Rule 25 goes
Ironically, today’s post is running a little late—because life’s not perfect and sometimes despite the best of intentions, you need a bit more time. But, if you are going to ask for more time to meet a court ordered deadline to submit evidence that is critical to your case, you better ask in advance and
Every once in a while, we find ourselves on a federal government corner of the internet, and we usually are surprised to discover (or are reminded) that these webpages often have materials that are worth knowing about, even downright useful, for our type of practice.
These sites are not always easy to navigate, however, so
We posted last year about plaintiffs who were dismissed from the Taxotere MDL for failure to serve defendants. To put it simply, the Federal Rules still apply in an MDL. 153 plaintiffs didn’t comply with the Rules, and their cases were dismissed. Not knowing when to walk away, as Kenny Rogers instructs, a number of these plaintiffs filed for reconsideration. The MDL Court rightly shut them down.Continue Reading No Second Chance at Service for Taxotere Plaintiffs
If at first you don’t succeed . . . re-urge. That’s the word the MDL court used in In re: Taxotere (Docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation, 2024 WL 718698 (E.D. La. Feb. 21, 2024). Defendants urged, re-urged, and again re-urged the court to enter a Lone Pine Order. And after four years of re-urging, the
It is time, once again, to talk about Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) case management. But this time there will be more gratitude than grousing.
We wince when we hear judges talk about managing litigation. Such management seems to be about many things (mostly about forcing settlement), and not much about deciding legal issues, and definitely not
We have a case going on where the plaintiff wants to preclude the use of a term found in his medical records to describe something that happened to him in the past that is highly relevant to the claims and injuries in the case. Instead of using the actual term, which was also used in