The definitive source for intelligent commentary on the law that matters for drug and device product liability cases
We refuse to end the year on a bad note, so we’ll talk about a case that’s good – not good enough to make tomorrow’s top-ten list, but good enough to slam the door shut on 2020 with a reasonable amount of cheer.
Vicente v. Johnson & Johnson, 2020 WL 7586907 (D.N.J. Dec. 21,…
Like many of you, we spend a large portion of our professional life litigating cases consolidated in MDLs. MDLs serve a purpose in this “mass tort” world, but they also breed laziness and complacency among plaintiff lawyers who amass “inventories” of clients they’ve never met and about whose claims they know nothing in the hope…
For our loyal readers mourning a missed, or modified, Halloween, Reed Smith has a treat to offer: a series of complimentary, life sciences-focused CLE webinars running from November 9 to 13 as a virtual “Life Sciences CLE Week.” (See below for information on jurisdictions in which credit is offered.) Reed Smith typically offers this program…
A couple of weeks ago, we walked around the Drug and Device Law Suburban Abode with a critical eye. The Abode was built the same year we were built, and we were struck by its similar cries for invasive cosmetic help. As a stopgap, we arranged to have the exterior painted, a finger in the…
Back in March, we discussed the Administration’s declaration of tort immunity under the “PREP Act” (42 U.S.C. §§247d-6a, et seq.) for “countermeasures” combating the COVID-19 epidemic. Today, we’re discussing the first cast that we know of to construe this declaration.
That case is Estate of Maglioli v. Andover Subacute Rehabilitation Center I, 2020…
The recent decision in Mize v. Mentor Worldwide LLC, ___ Cal. Rptr.3d ___, 2020 WL 3602482 (Cal. App. July 2, 2020), demonstrates why California courts – particularly state courts – have such a poor reputation when it comes to product-related litigation. In Mize, a combination of questionable reasoning, together with the state’s absurdly…
Now comes the pathos of social distance. As with many of you, we are working remotely. The pantry shelves are groaning under the weight of so many soup cans. Our only reliable encounter with other humans is with the UPS delivery driver, through a door-glass darkly.
Per our Spring Break plans, right now we should…
If asbestos litigation reminds of the 100 Years War, and the Bone Screw litigation recalls (for us) the winning side of the Franco-Prussian War, or Napoleon’s Italian Campaign − pelvic mesh litigation seems like something out of a different war. Try World War I. It’s not quite the Somme (at least not yet) but more…
Today is Friday, December 20, 2019, the last day on which many of our readers will be in the office before settling their brains for a long winter’s nap. We wish you all the very best, and our holiday gift to you today is a case about candy. Not just any candy. Today we bring…
For a few years, it seemed like we were blogging about the Weeks case every few months. Beyond providing an opportunity for temporal quippery, Weeks caught our attention because it was one of the holdout cases against the tide of cases rejecting Conte, the crappy California case that invented innovator liability. After the…