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This is from the non-Dechert part of the Blog.

Over the years, the Blog has had many, many posts related to the issue of whether Pennsylvania recognized any form of strict liability in product liability actions against prescription medical products.  In addition to the fact that several of the principal authors of the Blog have

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Today we discuss an excellent express preemption decision from the District of Arizona, Skinner v. Small Bone Innovations Inc., 2024 WL 3639296 (D. Ariz. Aug. 2, 2024).

This decision involved the Scandinavian Total Ankle Replacement device (“STAR”).  The STAR® Ankle is a Class III medical device subject to the Medical Device Amendments’ express preemption provision, 21 U.S.C. § 360k(a).  This was Plaintiff’s second bite at the apple:  The Court had already granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss but with leave to amend to attempt to state a parallel claim.  See Skinner v. Small Bone Innovations Inc., No. CV-23-01051-PHX-MTL, 2023 WL 6318014, at *6 (D. Ariz. Sept. 28, 2023).  After striking out in round one, Plaintiff fared no better in round two.Continue Reading Slam-Dunk Express Preemption Decision from the District of Arizona

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We have often characterized judicial options as mixed bags, and a recent example of such a mixed bag can be found in Muldoon v. DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 130020 (N.D. Cal. July 23, 2024). The plaintiff claimed injuries from a ceramic-on-metal hip implant.  He alleged that friction and wear caused the

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Before we dive into today’s case, Avrin v. Mentor Worldwide LLC, 2024 WL 115672 (C.D. Cal. March 15, 2024), we offer two preliminary observations:

1. We love to hear from our readers.  Sometimes we get emails commenting on a post.  Often, those comments arrive in the form of gushing reviews. That’s nice.  Less often

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As insightful and modest as the Blog can be, we are not infallible.  Every once in a while, two posts get written on the same decision, sometimes because we try to make sure a new post goes up every non-holiday weekday of the year.  Because of the aforementioned modesty, however, we are hesitant to deprive

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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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Kulkarni v. Generics, 2023 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 160730 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 8, 2023), is an interesting generic preemption (mostly) dismissal involving an “old” (pre-1962) drug.  A pro se plaintiff sued five affiliated pharmaceutical companies alleging that a course of generic prednisone caused her to develop functional myoclonus.  The plaintiff’s theory of the case was that the drug label failed

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South Carolina is a lovely state with mostly lovely weather, though this time of year its appearance on the map looks like the country’s jutted chin daring a hurricane to sock it. South Carolina courts have been known to sock it to defendants, particularly in asbestos cases.    

Luckily, asbestos has nothing to do with today’s