Quick puppy update: the standard poodle puppies, one of which will be our first-ever show dog in a house filled with canine and feline rescued ragamuffins, are four weeks old today. All eight are fat and healthy, despite a scare with one white male puppy a week or so ago. We will meet them this
Punitive Damages
FDA Safety Communication Not Enough to Support Punitive Damages Claim in New Jersey
Today’s post is actually about a medical malpractice case. But it involves the interplay between an FDA “Safety Communication” and punitive damages, so we thought it was worth looking at.
In Rivera v. Valley Hospital, Inc., 2022 WL 3650726 (NJ Aug. 25, 2022), plaintiff is the representative of the estate of a woman who…
The Not-So-Thin Line Between Negligence and Punitive Damages
In our experience, plaintiffs in product liability cases always seek punitive damages. Even when their claimed injuries are quite modest or their state does not permit punitive damages, they give it a shot. We have had cases with partial summary judgment on punitive damages, with directed verdict on punitive damages, and with jury verdicts for…
Choice of Law Nixes Punitive Damages in Remanded Mesh Case
New Jersey ain’t Florida and vice versa. Obviously, it’s warmer in Florida for more of the year and it never gets cold enough to snow. That could be a pro or a con. Florida has the second longest coastline among U.S. States which gives it a greater opportunity to have more highly rated beaches. But…
D. Arizona Precludes Pelvic Mesh Punitive Damages
Another Reason MDL Defendants Should Not Waive Their Lexecon Rights
This post is from the non-Dechert side of the blog.
From the first time that we discussed Lexecon, Inc. v. Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, 523 U.S. 26 (1998), and the related MDL concept of Lexecon waivers, we’ve been plenty leery of defendants in cases transferred into multidistrict litigation waiving their retransfer rights…
TwIqbal And Punitive Damages
Bexis was updating the chapter of his drug and medical device treatise pertaining to, inter alia, punitive damages and came across In re Valsartan, Losartan, & Irbesartan Products Liability Litigation, 2020 WL 8970347 (D.N.J. March 12, 2020).
Consistent with a number of alarmingly pro-plaintiff decisions that we’ve already seen from that MDL,…
Out of Africano – Hernia Mesh Win Produces More Good Law
This post is from the non-Dechert side of the blog.
We previously discussed some favorable motion in limine rulings in the hernia (not pelvic) mesh case, Africano v. Atrium Medical Corp., 2021 WL 4477867 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 30, 2021). They were a welcome change from the appalling MDL choice of law rulings against…
More Interesting Post-MDL IVC Rulings
Ever since our Bone Screw days, when we used the strategy to great effect, we’ve rooted for defendants undertaking to beat post-MDL remand plaintiffs in guerrilla litigation in numerous courts across the country. The way to do it is twofold: On the one hand the defendant creates litigation uncertainty by hemming the other side in…
Clarifying the Arizona Punitive Damages Statute
Bexis has just returned from a week’s vacation in Acadia National Park in Maine. After being rained out for a couple of days due to a stray hurricane, he climbed four mountains in three days – the Precipice Trail up Mt. Champlain; the West Face Cadillac Mountain trail up that mountain, and the Jordan Cliffs/Deer…