Back in April, we pondered whether the new judge in the Valsartan MDL would change things for the better. In contrast to the Zantac MDL, which was established a year later and has proceeded on a very similar contamination theory, the first several years of the Valsartan MDL saw a bunch of bad rulings on
This post is from the non-Dechert and non-RS side of the Blog.
Depending on the time, issue, and players, the supposed epithets of “judicial activism” or “activist judge” can be thrown in just about every juridical direction. If we were to try to parse out the most common reason for the use of these terms
“To be clear, while an association between acetaminophen and autism has been described in many studies, a causal relationship has not been established . . . .” That is not your DDL bloggers speaking (although we did add the emphasis). It is not a drug manufacturer speaking, nor any particular doctor or researcher speaking. It
You know it’s going to be an interesting ride when the appellate brief reads like a conspiracy theory starter pack. Which is how we read the issues raised on appeal in Thelen v. Somatics, LLC, — F4th –, 2025 WL 2749888 (11th Cir. Sep. 29, 2025): erroneous entry of summary judgment on design
This is from the non-Dechert and non-RS side of the Blog.
We recently attended a successful Ph.D. thesis defense on the seemingly narrow issue of trap states in quantum dots. This was held in a dark wood-paneled room in a large science building on the campus of a research institution generally known by a short
Legal problems are often multi-faceted. Turned one way, the problem looks like one issue. Turn it around, and a different issue glimmers in your eye.
For example, in Saulsby v. Amphastar Pharm., Inc., __ S.E.2d ___, 2025 N.C. App. LEXIS 420, 2025 WL 1812450 (N.C. App. July 2, 2025), the North Carolina Court of
For several years now, the Valsartan MDL has been something of a poster child for the problems with modern serial product liability litigation. It started with questionable data coming out of a questionable lab, leading to publicity and regulatory actions that outpaced reliable evidence of increased risk from an alleged carcinogenic contamination. It snowballed
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.
Defendant in Beavan v. Allergan U.S.A., Inc., 2014 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 2898 (N.J. App. Nov. 21, 2024) made two solid arguments for summary judgment – preemption based on the FDCA’s recall regulations and plaintiff’s lack of admissible expert testimony. The trial court rejected both. The appellate court, however, saw the merit in the
The last time we looked into Bueno v. Merck, it was anything but bueno. Taking the position that, “if there is a cause of action, there must be jurisdiction,” a misguided decision had held that a branded drug manufacturer could be haled to court under an innovator liability claim, despite the defendant having never sold anything to the plaintiff in the state. See Bueno v. Merck & Co., 626 F. Supp.3d 1154 (S.D. Cal. 2022). That decision made our bottom ten list in in 2022.
Two years later – and who knows how many $$$ spent in the interim – the result on the merits was incomparably better. All claims dismissed with prejudice for a variety of excellent reasons. Bueno v. Merck & Co., ___ F. Supp.3d ___, 2024 WL 3974754 (S.D. Cal. Aug. 27, 2024). Ditto for a companion case decided the same day. See Parker v. Merck & Co., 2024 WL 3974764 (S.D. Cal. Aug. 27, 2024).
Here’s what happened.Continue Reading Bueno and More Bueno