In these dog days of summer, few things bring as much joy and relief as ice cream. What does ice cream have to do with drugs or medical devices? Not much, we suppose. Sure, ice cream can affect the brain and the body. Our neurons vibrate with pleasure as they travel along a rocky road
Consumer Protection
‘Premium” Vanilla Ice Cream Consumer Fraud Case Gets Plain Vanilla Dismissal

It is hardly a compliment to describe something as “plain vanilla.” It refers to the simplest version of something, sans any extras. It is ordinary. It is not special. It is dull. And yet vanilla can be a remarkable, complex flavor. Our favorite morning Starbucks cold double shot comes with vanilla. If we get a…
S.D. Ohio Dismisses Zostavax Class Action

Did you know that both LeBron James and Steph Curry were born in Ohio? So were Neil Armstrong, Halle Berry, Simone Biles, Thomas Edison, Dean Martin, Jack Nicklaus, and Steven Spielberg. (We once ran into – we mean literally – Dean Martin as he was launching himself out of a Beverly Hills restaurant. He was…
SDNY Dismisses Most of a Pelvic Mesh Lawsuit

It’s time for the Mesh Case of the Week. In Dupere v. Ethicon, Inc., 2022 WL 523604 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 22, 2022), the plaintiff filed a lawsuit claiming injuries from pelvic mesh that had been implanted in her to treat stress urinary incontinence. The court ended up dismissing many of the causes of action. That…
Truthful Statements Cannot Form Basis for Consumer Fraud Claims

This post is from the non-Reed Smith side of the blog.
One would assume the title of this post to be a given. Afterall, the crux of a fraud claim is that the consumer was deceived or misled in some way. Therefore, truthful and accurate statements should not be grounds for consumer fraud claims. But…
Prescription Drugs and Class Actions Do Not Mix

Some things were never meant to go together. Oil and water. Ice cream and ketchup. Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort (although fans of the books will quickly point out that Boy Who Lived was actually linked inextricably to his arch enemy). Picnics and honey bees. Elected officials and the power to borrow money. You get…
Lack of Causation Fells Third-Payor Claims in Xarelto MDL

The Xarelto personal injury claims settled in 2019 after six bellwether trials all ended with defense verdicts. What remained, until now, were several third-party payor (health insurers, “TPPs”) actions that have been dormant for almost six years. Despite the passage of time, the motions before the court in 2021 were to dismiss under Rules 12(b)(6)…
Supreme Court Holds that the Violation of a Statutory Right Is Insufficient To Establish Article III Standing in a Damages Action

To bring suit in federal court, a plaintiff must have “Article III standing.” That is to say, the plaintiff must have a personal stake in the suit’s outcome. This is true whether a plaintiff is suing individually or as a member of a class.
Late last week, in TransUnion v. Ramirez, — S. Ct.…
Good and Not-So-Good Holdings in District of New Hampshire Hernia Mesh Case

This post is not from the Dechert side of the Blog.
We exchanged e-mails today with one of our first mentors, many years retired. With this long-ago colleague, we tried our first prescription drug cases when we were fresh out of law school, creating some of the fondest memories of our decades-long legal career. Back…