We’ve started thinking that it might be fun to run for a seat on our county’s (elected) trial court bench, when we retire from our law firm. (Our current campaign is for our township’s school board. If we succeed, our term will take us just about to the point at which we plan to retire). 
Removal
Guest Post – Fraudulent Joinder Of Defendant With No Connection To The Plaintiff Cannot Forestall Foray To Zantac MDL

Today’s guest post by Reed Smith’s Kevin Hara arises indirectly from the Zantac MDL, but addresses a recurring preliminary question of federal jurisdiction − fraudulent joinder. That issue, in turn, involves product identification (another problem in MDLs) and a pointer for pharmacies that want to avoid being involved in pharmaceutical litigation. As always our guest…
Reading Tea Leaves: Judge Brown Jackson’s Decisions Relevant To Product Liability

In the coming weeks, there are sure to be many articles looking at what Judge Brown Jackson has written and what that might suggest about the future jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court if she is confirmed. We will not predict what will happen in confirmation. We will, however, weigh in on what Judge…
Dictum and Technicalities Not Enough for Plaintiffs to Get Around Snap Removal

Today’s case is not a drug or device case, but a COVID nursing home case. We are not blogging on the underlying substance of the case but rather on plaintiff’s motion to remand after a snap removal. The case – Carroll v. Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services – is pending in the Western District of Pennsylvania. …
Plaintiff’s Bad Faith Waives Forum Defendant Rule

Defendants get accused of using snap removals as some sort of nefarious litigation tactic to thwart the forum defendant rule and drive cases into federal court. But all defendants do when they “snap” remove, is follow the law as written. In case you are new to this area of the law, we will stop here…
California Court Agrees with Circuits That Agree with Snap Removal
First Circuit Closes Front and Back Door on Massachusetts Pharmacy Liability Case
Update on COVID-19 Litigation & Federal Jurisdiction

Those of you following the fortunes of COVID-19-related litigation should check out these two recently decided cases: Garcia v. Welltower OpCo Group LLC, 2021 WL 492581 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 10, 2021), and Fields v. Brown, 2021 WL 510620 (E.D. Tex. Feb. 11, 2021).
Garcia, the older of the two (by one day),…
Ninth Circuit Affirms Breast Implant Dismissals

Approximately 18 months ago we reported on C.D. California cases that silicone breast implant defendants managed to keep in federal court and then get dismissed with prejudice. We expressed delight with the opinions because the court’s discussions of fraudulent joinder and preemption were particularly insightful. No doubt another source of our delight was that the…
No Reasonable Basis for Remand in Texas

There is no reasonable basis to remand Cazares v. Ortho El Paso, P.A., 2020 WL 4562231 (W.D. Tex. Aug. 7, 2020) because there is no reasonable basis for plaintiff’s strict liability claims against a hospital. And that is sufficient.
That, however, is not what the magistrate who first ruled on plaintiff’s motion to remand…