The Northern District of California did not mince words in its opinion in Rodman v. Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., 2020 WL 2525032 (N.D. Cal. May 18, 2020) and so neither will we. Plaintiff had three theories of failure to warn and a design defect claim and they all failed in grand fashion due in
Safer Alternative
New Jersey Product Liability Act Knocks out Design Defect, Manufacturing, Warning, Warranty, and Fraud Claims Against IVC Filter
A couple of weeks ago we compared New Jersey litigation with New Jersey food and decided we liked the food better. No aspersions were intended. After all, we grew up in New Jersey and still worship at the altars of Seton Hall Prep, Bruce Springsteen, and the New York football Giants. Anyway, we might need…
E.D. Michigan Dismisses Hernia Mesh Case for Lack of Safer Alternative
A product is not defective simply because someone was harmed by it. That seems a simple enough point. Courts often acknowledge it, though sometimes in a perfunctory, mumbling fashion. What gives teeth to the mumbling is when state law requires the plaintiff to show a safer alternative product. If really pressed, many plaintiffs cannot articulate…
Plaintiff’s Motion for New Trial Denied in Bair Hugger MDL
Partial Summary Judgment Granted in Bard IVC MDL Bellwether
Today’s case has a little bit of everything – choice of law, statutory compliance, alternative design, warnings causation. So, the decision is a bit of “grab bag” in addition to being a “mixed bag.”
The case is Hyde v. C.R. Bard, Inc., 2018 WL 3586404 (D. Ariz. Jul. 26, 2018). To begin with, plaintiff…
Strike Two For Plaintiff in Pennsylvania
This post is from the non-Reed Smith side of the blog.
Today is a follow-up post on Bell v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharms, No. 17-1153, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90337 (W.D. PA. May 31, 2018). When we last blogged about this case back in February, the court had tossed out everything except negligence and fraud/misrepresentation…
A Quick Visit to Louisiana
A Double Whammy for California Design Defect Claims
Finally, some good news out of California – at least when personal jurisdiction isn’t the issue.
Design and warning defects were the questions presented in Trejo v. Johnson & Johnson, ___ Cal. Rptr.3d ___, 2017 WL 2825803 (Cal. App. June 30, 2017), and the result, particularly on the design side, was much more to…
Briefing Completed in Half-Billion-Dollar Verdict in Pinnacle MDL
This post comes from the Cozen O’Connor side of the blog.
Plaintiffs and defendants have now completed briefing before the Fifth Circuit on defendants’ appeal of the $498 million verdict in the second bellwether trial of the Pinnacle hip implant MDL. Obviously, there is a lot riding on this appeal. In March, we laid out…
Southern District of Illinois Excludes Plaintiff’s Experts in OTC NSAID Kidney Injury Case
Next week, we are traveling to Budapest, with a side trip to Vienna. We are visiting the Drug and Device Law Rock Climber, who is spending this semester abroad studying computer science (in Budapest) and climbing rocks (in Majorca, etc.). Aside from the beloved visage of our only child, we are most excited about seeing…