Search results for: pinnacle hip

Duh.  We apologize for the depth of our profundity, but there are some legal principles we think are really obvious.  So obvious, in fact, that we might respond to question about these principles with this most dismissive of (clean) interjections.  (We were somewhat surprised to learn from the interwebs that duh was supposedly first used…

As much as we liked those parts of In re DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, 888 F.3d 753 (5th Cir. 2018) (applying Texas law), that overturned a half-billion dollar verdict caused by a combination of attorney misconduct and judicial lassitude, we also recognized the problematic effects of certain other Fifth Circuit rulings in that decision.  While the good parts of Pinnacle Hip were good enough to win that decision a spot in our 2018 top ten cases, that decision’s adverse aspects were bad enough that it also landed on our list of 2018’s worst ten decisions.  Specifically we observed:

The most serious error the court made was refusing to apply established Texas law that comment k precludes strict liability across the board.  Pinnacle Hip ignored – really ignored − a half dozen prior decisions (including one of its own) on this issue.  Even if there wasn’t any precedent (which there was), expanding state-law liability where the state courts have not is not the job of a federal court sitting in diversity.

Continue Reading Comment K, Presumptions, and Medical Device Design Defects Under Texas Law

In prescription medical product liability litigation, size matters.  It doesn’t matter as much as having good products and winning arguments, but when the name of the game on the other side is to drag defendants into pro-plaintiff forums and then use every procedural trick in the book to try to “ring the bell” on some…

We know of only a couple of cases that have allowed “experts” to testify on the subject of punitive damages.  First, in the Actos litigation, the court allowed a so-called “ability to pay” expert opinion to be presented to the jury.  In re Actos (Pioglitazone) Products Liability Litigation, 2013 WL 6383104, at *5 (W.D.…

Forget the Reptile Theory; today’s topic is even more atavistic than that – what defendants can rely on when xenophobia and racism invade the courtroom.  That kind of sub-reptilian gambit unfortunately still exists, and can play out in a number of ways.

Sometimes an appeal to prejudice is made via raw, frontal assault – often…

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Bexis’ Book

FDA-regulated products now account for an estimated one-fifth of overall economic activity in the U.S. They have also been the focus of a litigation explosion. This timely guide covers all aspects of litigation involving drugs, medical devices, vaccines and other FDA-regulated prescription products.
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