The two of us have been practicing law now for a little over 25 years. Bexis graduated law school in 1982 and Herrmann a year later (see our bios – links at the top – for the gory details). At big firms it takes a few years – five at least – before we could
Quite some time ago (at least a month) a reader asked us to comment on how the learned intermediary rule affects the need for expert testimony to prove the adequacy of warnings pertaining to drugs and medical devices. Well, that request wasn’t the kind of thing that had any time urgency on it, so we’re
Score two for Lilly in the Zyprexa litigation.
Last Friday, in In re Zyprexa Prods. Liab. Litig. (Clark v. Eli Lilly), 04-MD-1596, slip op. (E.D.N.Y May 29, 2009) (link here), Judge Weinstein granted summary judgment in favor of Lilly in a case decided under Pennsylvania law.
Sixteen-year-old Charles Clark was diagnosed with bipolar
We’ve already commented on what a bad idea the pending NY bill to abolish the learned intermediary rule is. Of course every defense lawyer who frequents this site already knows that, but if anybody out there needs persuading, here’s some more information.
Or you can just go read the package insert for just about any
A bill recently introduced in the New York State legislature proposes to eliminate the learned intermediary doctrine for prescription drugs or devices that are promoted through direct-to-consumer advertising. Here’s a link to the description of the bill.
A little more than a year ago, we blogged about Ebel v. Eli Lilly & Co., 536 F. Supp.2d 767 (S.D. Tex. 2008), which granted summary judgment in a suicide case involving off-label use of Zyprexa, primarily on warning causation grounds – but as we posted then, the plaintiff had seven strikes against him.
On some days, we’re writing about how Wyeth v. Levine will affect the entire pharmaceutical industry.
On other days, we’re writing about a federal court predicting state law on the learned intermediary doctrine in Puerto Rico.
Welcome to day two.
In Mendez Montes de Oca v. Aventis, Civil No. 02-2608, 2008 U.S. Dist. Lexis 75892
In June 2007, the West Virginia Supreme Court refused to adopt the learned intermediary doctrine.
We deplored State of West Virginia ex rel Johnson & Johnson Corp. v. Hon. Mark A. Karl when it came down, and we continue to deplore it today.
Although we didn’t like the result, Karl was good for us in
Our post last month about Breen v. Synthes-Stratec, Inc., 947 A.2d 383 (Conn. App. 2008), got us thinking (always dangerous) about medical devices and the learned intermediary rule. Is there any valid reason why the learned intermediary rule shouldn’t apply to medical devices where it also applies to prescription drugs?
Well, we thought about