In the ever-extending period of working from home and social distancing, we have spent some time watching various exemplars of the “superhero” genre and noted that the uber kitschy afterschool and weekend morning staple of our youth is not being recreated. (If Stevie Mac is from the Pleistocene, then our youth was in the
The recent decision in Mize v. Mentor Worldwide LLC, ___ Cal. Rptr.3d ___, 2020 WL 3602482 (Cal. App. July 2, 2020), demonstrates why California courts – particularly state courts – have such a poor reputation when it comes to product-related litigation. In Mize, a combination of questionable reasoning, together with the state’s absurdly
Back in the Pleistocene era when we toiled in law school, it seemed as if modern tort law developed as the result of a cross-continental game of ping pong played between the California and New Jersey courts. That still seems to be the case. Sure, there is the occasional, horrific verdict in flyover country that
Not long ago, an EPL (evil plaintiff lawyer) relayed to us that, based on reading our posts, another EPL had assumed we had a particular political view. As we laughed at the notion, we pondered the issues of assumption and incomplete information. Much like the old quip about what happens when you assume, many assumptions
Why does that last half-inch of conditioner seem to last as long as the entire rest of the bottle? This question is merely the philosophical beginning of our morning ablutions. The time is not billable. Pity. But rinse and renewal are not irrelevant to our thinking. Fresh face, fresh mind. Some of the best ideas
This week we are pleased to report on yet another breast implant case in which a plaintiff’s effort to circumvent preemption failed. In Diodato v. Mentor Workdwide LLC, 2020 WL 3402296 (D. Md. June 19, 2020), the plaintiff brought manufacturing defect, breach of warranty, and failure to warn claims that were typically skimpy in
Since we were involved in the Medtronic Infuse wars, we’ve been quite aware of Justice Gorsuch’s textualist views towards statutes since he wrote Caplinger v. Medtronic, Inc., 784 F.3d 1335 (10th Cir. 2015). In Caplinger he got a close look at the damage the Supreme Court had done to the plain meaning of the
t’s cold in New Jersey now. At the time this post hits the blog, it will be about 20 degrees, real feel 15 degrees in most of New Jersey. That’s too cold for this blogger. That’s an extra-large cup of coffee for the ride to work. That’s two-layers of clothing to walk the dog. That’s
If you have read more than a few posts on this Blog, then there is a good chance that you realize we have strong views on preemption. You might have also picked up that we think the way an issue is analyzed, not just the ruling after the analysis, matters. We have talked about the
Today is Friday, December 20, 2019, the last day on which many of our readers will be in the office before settling their brains for a long winter’s nap. We wish you all the very best, and our holiday gift to you today is a case about candy. Not just any candy. Today we bring