Albahae v. Olaplex Holdings, Inc., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105361 (C.D. Cal. June 15, 2023), is not a drug/device case, but is a very good case severing under Fed. R. Civ. P. 21 an attempt to join 101 plaintiffs on claims involving their use of the defendant’s hair care products. To be specific, there
Joinder
Severing Cases Sua Sponte
Court Severs Product-Liability Claims Brought By Different Plaintiffs Involving Different Devices Implanted At Different Times By Different Doctors

Plaintiffs like to file complaints that join multiple plaintiffs in a single action. They think that doing so gives them added leverage in settlement discussions. They think that because they know that if they get to a jury, a jury is—no matter the evidence—more likely to find in favor of the plaintiffs and against the…
No Consolidated Trial in Injectafer Litigation in E.D.Pa.

This is actually Rachel Weil’s post, but she is having password problems, so Bexis is doing the actual posting
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We spent last weekend in a shore house with extended family members (all vaccinated, of course) gathered to celebrate a cousin’s milestone birthday. Since we had last gathered, babies had been born, the family matriarch…
Multi-Plaintiff Trial Issue at the Supreme Court

We’ve griped about multi-plaintiff consolidated trials for years on this blog, both generally, and in the specific context of prescription medical product liability litigation. Now the issue is before the Supreme Court in one of the most grotesque miscarriages of justice that we’ve seen – and several of us practice in Philadelphia – a…
Joinder Denied: Same Device But Still Too Different

Have you ever gone to a party and felt unwelcome? Neither have we, but the moving party in Bartis v. Biomet, Inc., No. 4:13-cv-00657, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21048 (E.D. Mo. Feb. 4, 2021), sure must have felt that way. She tried to join and intervene in a consolidated set of prosthetic hip-related lawsuits…
Severance of Misjoined Claims–Why Not More Often?

We have always wondered why judges are hesitant to sever the claims of plaintiffs who never should have joined their claims together in the first place. You know what we mean—multiple plaintiffs, sometimes dozens of them, who join their claims together in one complaint based only on the allegation that they used the same or…
Plaintiff Cannot Defeat Diversity by Suing Local Hospital without Complying with Louisiana Med-Mal Requirements

Diversity jurisdiction has been on our minds a lot lately. Last week, we wrote about a plaintiff who unsuccessfully tried to steer under the $75,000 amount in controversy requirement. As John Adams said, “facts are stubborn things,” and the existence of medical bills in excess of $75,000 refuted the plaintiff’s remand motion and permitted the…
Fraudulent Joinder and Misjoinder Arguments Prevail in Missouri

Sometimes we find it simply best to start with the facts. The facts of Graham v. Mentor World Wide LLC, 2019 WL 3253185 (E.D. MO Jul. 19, 2019) are:
- In 2000, plaintiff underwent plastic surgery including breast implants.
- Between December 2017 and February 2018, tests showed plaintiff was experiencing silicone leakage from her breast
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