We don’t have much patience for litigation attempting to seek damages for drug addicts who injured or killed themselves through their illegal use of drugs. We’ve discussed several times how such plaintiffs (or their estates) should lose under the in pari delicto doctrine that prevents criminals from recovering damages for the consequences of their own criminal acts. Lots of cases so hold. See, e.g., Albert v. Sheeley’s Drug Store, Inc., 265 A.3d 442, 448 (Pa. 2021); Price v. Perdue Pharma Co., 920 So.2d 479, 486 (Miss. 2006); Orzel v. Scott Drug Co., 537 N.W.2d 208, 213 (Mich. 1995); Patten v. Raddatz, 895 P.2d 633, 637-38 (Mont. 1995); Lastrina v. Bettauer, 289 A.3d 1222, 1234 (Conn. App. 2023); Gentile v. Malenick, 112 N.Y.S.3d 364, 365 (N.Y.A.D. 2019); Kaminer v. Eckerd Corp., 966 So.2d 452, 454 (Fla. App. 2007); Pappas v. Clark, 494 N.W.2d 245, 247 (Iowa App. 1992); Inge v. McClelland, 725 F. Appx. 634, 638 (10th Cir. 2018) (applying New Mexico law); Romero v. United States, 658 F. Appx. 376, 380 (10th Cir. 2016) (applying New Mexico law); Messerli v. AW Distributing, Inc., 2023 WL 4295365, at *5 (D. Kan. June 30, 2023), certif. denied, 2023 WL 6961977 (D. Kan. Oct. 20, 2023); Alston v. Caraco Pharmaceutical, Inc., 670 F. Supp.2d 279, 287 (S.D.N.Y. 2009); Sorrentino v. Barr Laboratories, Inc., 397 F. Supp.2d 418, 422-23 (W.D.N.Y. 2005), aff’d, 218 Fed. Appx. 7 (2d Cir. 2007); Foister v. Purdue Pharma, L.P., 295 F. Supp.2d 693, 705 (E.D. Ky. 2003).Continue Reading Another Opioid Addict Overdose Case Dismissed, Several Times Over
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N.D. Ohio Preempts Some Opioid Claims (No, Not THAT Case)
The Covid-19 lockdown period is approaching the six-month mark, from mid-March to mid-September. Throughout the spring and summer we have been reading old novels with convoluted plots and surprise endings. Today we take a look at an old case, though only from a prior decade, not a prior century. If the case is convoluted, it…
The Opioid Epidemic – What Kind of a Problem Is It?
Guest Post − West Virginia Court Finds Both Fraudulent Joinder & Misjoinder in Opioid Action
What follows is a guest post from long-time friend of the blog Thomas J. Hurney, Jr. of Jackson Kelly PLLC in Charleston, West Virginia. Tom comes to us today with news of an interesting – and favorable – federal court remand denial in one of the recently filed opioid litigation in his state. It raises…
New Mexico Wrongful Conduct Rule Shuts Down Opioid Case Against Pharmacist
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New York Chantix Case: Great on Experts, Not So Hot on Summary Judgment
This is our second go round with Vardouniotis v. Pfizer, Inc., Case No. 152029/2019 (N.Y. Sup.). When we posted about the court’s decision on defendant’s motion to dismiss, we were resigned to shrug our shoulders and accept that “nothing’s perfect.” It’s two years later and we’re still shrugging.
After the court allowed plaintiff’s negligence; gross…
Does The Supreme Court’s Decision On The Purdue Bankruptcy Signal An End To Mass Tort Bankruptcies?
This is from the non-Dechert and non-Reed Smith side of the Blog.
We are not bankruptcy lawyers. So, even though we are discussing a Supreme Court decision on the powers of a bankruptcy court, we are not purporting to be experts in that area. The decision, of course, is Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P.…
Are Prescription Medical Product Characteristics Subject to Judicial Notice?
We could care less about almost everything in Driver v. Naranjo, 2024 WL 2869367 (S.D. Cal. June 6, 2024), which dismissed an overly litigious pro se prisoner’s product liability and other claims involving his purportedly forced use of a prescription drug.
But Driver’s first footnote raises an interesting question of judicial notice – whether notice can extend to the “characteristics” of prescription medical products. Driver held that “[t]he Court may take judicial notice of medical facts regarding prescription drugs, their active ingredients and effects.” 2024 WL 2869367, at *1 n.1. The opinion cited two cases for that proposition, United States v. Howard, 381 F.3d 873, 880 & n.7 (9th Cir. 2004) (taking judicial notice of certain effects of a drug listed in the product warnings reprinted in the Physician’s Desk Reference (“PDR”)); and Lolli v. County of Orange, 351 F.3d 410, 419 (9th Cir. 2003) (“Well-known medical facts are the types of matters of which judicial notice may be taken.”) (citation omitted).Continue Reading Are Prescription Medical Product Characteristics Subject to Judicial Notice?
Guest Post – Michigan Product Liability Law: Retroactivity of New Law and Primer
Today’s guest post is by Sherry Knutson and Brenda Sweet of Tucker Ellis, and concerns the recently passed legislative repeal of a Michigan statute that, for several decades had effectively immunized prescription drugs from ordinary product liability actions under Michigan law. For background, here’s a prior blogpost that focused on the now-repealed statute. As…
The Goose And Gander Of Buying The Science
For as long as we have been representing drug and device companies in product liability litigation, the plaintiffs have accused our clients of “buying the science.” Sometimes, this has allegedly been by funding studies or offering support to outside researchers such as free product or access to administrative support. Sometimes, this has allegedly been by…