We write on a gorgeous spring day in suburban Philadelphia, with Passover imminent for us and Easter for many we love. Today’s decision contains more than enough “good” to sustain the positive vibe. Ward v. Zoll Lifevest Holdings LLC, 2021 WL 7907066 (D.D.C. Sept. 20, 2021) is a D.C. District case from last September
As we write this, our firm’s “return to office” date is less than two weeks away. We will be delighted to see, hug, and collaborate in person with colleagues we’ve missed for two long years (computer visages notwithstanding), though we confess to panic at the prospect of “real clothes.” And shoes. It’s all a bit
Some product liability cases are so bad they won’t fly even in California. Gall v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., ___ Cal. Rptr.3d ___, 2021 WL 5027197 (Cal. App. Oct. 29, 2021), is one of those. Plaintiff alleged that the defendant inadequately warned about the alleged risks of a hip implant, or alternatively that the
There has been a veritable pandemic of posts about Covid-19 regulations (vaccine mandates, restrictions on indoor gatherings, etc.) on the DDL blog as of late, so we thought we’d take a break from the craziness and report on a good, old-fashioned medical device preemption case. And yet we still found ourselves encountering a loathsome disease
This blog is no stranger to the In re Smith & Nephew Birmingham HIP Resurfacing (BBR) HIP Implant Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2775, pending in the District of Maryland. Nor have we hidden our disregard for several of its decisions, going back to its preemption ruling on defendant’s motion to dismiss which made our
This post is from the non-Reed Smith side of the blog.
Today’s case – Bernasek v. Gatz, 2021 WL 2152968 (Fla. Cir. May 20, 2021) – doesn’t exactly break new ground. But it does support that all of the federal courts to rule on parallel violation claims under Florida law are getting it right.
The plaintiff in Vesoulis v. Reshape Lifesciences, 2021 WL 1909725 (E.D. Louisiana May 12, 2021), was a dentist. So if he was complaining about pain and suffering, we’d step back and take notice. (Think of the Steve Martin song from the Little Shop of Horrors musical film.) The plaintiff certainly did have something
Last week we posted about the Daubert decision in Lowery v. Sanofi-Aventis LLC, that tossed out both plaintiff’s medical causation expert and FDA expert. As promised, that was just the first blow. The knockout came in its companion decision granting summary judgement not just on medical causation but also on the grounds of preemption.
Perhaps the biggest conflict among the circuits in PMA preemption cases involves the extent to which plaintiffs can get away with pleading essentially nothing to support supposed “parallel” violation claims, on the one hand, or on the other must plead a particularized violation of an FDA regulation (usually a “Current Good Manufacturing Practice” or “CGMP”)
A great woman once said “When they go low, we go high.” Apropos of nothing in particular these days, we have been thinking about the issue of tone recently. For instance, what is the exact line between a negative political advertisement and a positive one? Are there circumstances where a candidate might suspend negative ads