Today we offer a peek at A. Twerski, “A Quarter Century after the Products Liability Restatement: Reflections,” 90 Brooklyn L. Rev. 1027 (Summer 2025). The “Restatement” under discussion is the Restatement (Third), Products Liability, and the “A. Twerski” is, of course, Aaron Twerski, the sole surviving reporter for that Restatement. Professor Twerski has written this retrospective law review
Design Defect
EDNY Holds Insulin Pump Claims Preempted

Medical device preemption should be straightforward. The statute could not be clearer. Federal regulation supplants state laws that would impose requirements that are different from or in addition to the federal requirements. But the law has evolved into a bit of a mess, with misreadings of certain approval/clearance pathways and inventions of exceptions, such as…
Stapler Suit Cropped

The plaintiff in Kane v. Covidien LP, 2025 U.S. Dist. Lexis 25718 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 12, 2025), lost the bulk of her case recently, on a motion to dismiss no less. In this case involving surgical staples, strict liability and negligence claims (which, in New York, are “functionally synonymous,” id. at *18) for design and…
Tubal Ligation Clip Claims Held to be Preempted

Bergdoll v. Coopersurgical, Inc., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38300 (W.D. Mo. March 4, 2025), is a good Class III medical device preemption decision. The device was a Filshie clip, which is used to perform tubal ligations. The claim in Bergdoll is the typical one that the clip migrated and caused adverse symptoms. Bergdoll is…
Split Decision in MDL “Bellwether Discovery” Case
W.D. Pa. Dismisses Design Defect Claims with Prejudice Based on Comment k; Dismisses Manufacturing and Warning Claims without Prejudice Based on Pleading Deficiencies

Blair v. Abbvie Inc., 2025 WL. 57198 (W.D. Pa. Jan. 9, 2025), is, from the defense perspective, a favorable opinion dismissing (some with prejudice, some with leave to amend) all counts of the plaintiff’s complaint. The opinion is a bit odd, in a semi, unintentionally-ironic sort of way, because it faults the plaintiff for…
Laser Treatment Plaintiff gets Burned by California Learned Intermediary Rule; but her Design Defect Claims are Saved by Skin-deep Analysis

May the holidays treat you well. We trust that none of you got burnt by any of the many hot things loitering around this time of year: yule logs, candles, figgy puddings, overloaded electrical outlets, and Aunt Sally’s line dancing after she downs a third eggnog.
Today’s case is not exactly hot, but it’s got…
Michigan Repeal Of Product Liability Protection Is Not Retroactive

The district court’s order applying Michigan law and dismissing one plaintiff’s complaint in the Tapezza MDL may be the last of a dying breed. The court faithfully enforced Michigan’s statute providing a presumption of non-defectiveness for FDA approved drugs and dismissed the plaintiffs’ case. But alas, Michigan repealed that law effective February 13, 2024, thus…
No Debating Pennsylvania’s Rejection of Strict Liability for Implantable Medical Devices

This is from the non-Dechert part of the Blog.
Over the years, the Blog has had many, many posts related to the issue of whether Pennsylvania recognized any form of strict liability in product liability actions against prescription medical products. In addition to the fact that several of the principal authors of the Blog have…
Hip, Hip … Meh? N.D. Cal. Issues Mixed Bag of Rulings on Hip Implant Claim

We have often characterized judicial options as mixed bags, and a recent example of such a mixed bag can be found in Muldoon v. DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130020 (N.D. Cal. July 23, 2024). The plaintiff claimed injuries from a ceramic-on-metal hip implant. He alleged that friction and wear caused the…