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We’ve already commented about the broad scope of tort immunity conferred by the March, 2020 Notice of Declaration under the Public Readiness & Emergency Preparedness Act (“PREP Act”), 42 U.S.C. §247d-6d.  That original immunity covered all aspects of government-related or sponsored production and use of anti-COVID countermeasures.  It was, as one of our colleagues put

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Not quite two months ago, the Dept. of HHS published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would make a significant change in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation program.  See 85 Fed. Reg. 43,791 (HHS July 20, 2020).  If this becomes a final rule, it could affect the prevalence of civil litigation involving vaccines.

HHS seeks

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We haven’t had a word to say on the Blog about the biggest health story in the world.  That was because, until now, there wasn’t a product liability angle to it.  That’s now changed.  On March 17, 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) published in the Federal Register a “notice of

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Not too long ago we criticized a proposed “restatement” from the American Law Institute that sought to absolve plaintiffs who acted intentionally from having their conduct (such as stealing drugs, deliberately taking someone else’s prescription), count as comparative fault in the lawsuits such plaintiffs frequently file against our clients.  That particular proposal has been withdrawn

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As we’ve gleefully chronicled, recently the tide has been running distinctly in our favor on defendants being permitted to remove cases to federal court before plaintiffs – every one of them a non-resident litigation tourist – can serve a so-called “forum defendant” – that is, a completely diverse defendant that is also a resident