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Back in 1997, a Chicago Tribune columnist wrote a hypothetical commencement speech that garnered a lot of attention. Like most commencement speeches, it offered uplifting advice to the bright young minds about to enter the working world. Unlike most, it directed the graduates to wear sunscreen.  That suggestion (often wrongly attributed to Kurt Vonnegut) became

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We reported a few months ago on oral argument in the California Court of Appeal in Gilead Life Sciences v. Superior Court, where the parties argued about whether California law recognizes a broad “duty to innovate.”  At issue was whether a product manufacturer could be liable to patients taking one drug for failing to

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Our work on “hard goods” (automobile, appliance, fire) product liability cases is greatly outnumbered by our drug and device cases (and probably also outnumbered these days by website privacy cases).  But the history of product liability has often been driven by such hard goods cases.  Think of Cardozo’s famous opinion in MacPherson v. Buick.

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We’ve noticed a recent uptick in product liability lawsuits brought against over the counter (OTC) and other consumer products. (Shameless plug: we will be on a panel discussing such litigation at ACI in NYC on January 23-24.). These are products that do not require a prescription. Maybe plaintiff lawyers prefer cases without any pesky learned intermediary who

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The Fifth Circuit gave the plaintiff in Bruno v. Biomet, Inc., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 213826 (E.D. La. Dec. 1, 2023) a second chance, but it was short lived.  This case had been dismissed on statute of limitations grounds.  On appeal, the Fifth Circuit reversed that holding and remanded the case for the district

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Listen to your gut.  Follow your instincts.  Trust your intuition.  Great advice in many situations.  Like deciding whether to buy skinny jeans or whether to buy your forever home.  Or, when things seem “off” or feel “dangerous.”  Or, when your body is trying to tell you something about your health.  These are all times to

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We observed oral argument the other day in a case that could have a significant impact on potential liability under California tort law for pharma companies and all other innovators.  In Gilead v. Superior Court, No. A165558 (Cal. Ct. App. First Dist.), a panel of the California Court of Appeal is considering whether a