Not too long ago, we tried to extrapolate from a doctoral thesis on quantum dots to lessons for litigation. That “[q]uantum dots are between one-billionth of a meter and one-hundred-millionth of a meter in size” emphasized that “appreciating the scope and scale of what is being discussed can be critical.” In the spate of litigation
This is from the non-RS side of the Blog.
We admit that the use of “everything” in our title may be excessive. The order in In re Rantidine [sic] Cases, JCCP 5150 (Cal. Super. Ct. Sept. 15, 2025) (“Cali Ranitidine”), slip op. here, did not cause climate change, poverty, hunger, air
When we ranked Trejo v. Johnson & Johnson, 220 Cal. Rptr. 3d 127 (Cal. App. 2017), as the second best drug or medical device case of 2017, we celebrated the opinion as the first to rule that federal law preempted a design defect claim involving an over-the-counter drug. We did not expect to
We reported about a year and a half ago on a Ninth Circuit opinion holding that the First Amendment prohibited cancer warnings required by California’s Proposition 65 because the warnings were government-compelled speech. Because there was no scientific consensus that the product at issue (glyphosate) causes cancer, the compelled warning failed intermediate scrutiny and thus
Prologue: Many years ago, our litigation practice included representation of a couple of film studios. While it was fun to visit backlots and (literally) bump into movie stars, we discovered that discovery, research, and motion practice were not necessarily any more exciting due to involvement of above-the-line talent. Contract law is still contract law, even
Science and law share a common goal—getting at the truth; but their relationship can be shaky. In areas like medicine and products liability, courts need to rely on science, but courts should not make science or get ahead of science. Science is a methodical process that relies on testing, peer review, and replication. When science
The Ninth Circuit filed its anticipated en banc opinion on personal jurisdiction last week, and the result is the broadening of Internet-based personal jurisdiction in an age of ubiquitous online commerce. The district court in Briskin v. Shopify, Inc., No. 22-15815, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 9410 (9th Cir. Apr. 21, 2025), had ruled that
There is a reason the one-two punch – a jab followed by a cross – is one of the most common sequences in boxing. It’s effective. The boxer uses his lead hand to throw a jab which has two objectives – to assess the distance between the fighters and if done correctly to lift his
We’ve written before about the long-running Muldoon v. DePuy Orthopedics lawsuit. For one thing, it’s been around forever – its facts are almost as old as the Blog. As we stated here:
Muldoon . . . is a suit over hip-replacement surgery conducted in 2007. Suit was not filed, however, until 2015 – undoubtedly Muldoon is another example of the flotsam and jetsam dredged up by MDL lawyer solicitation. So Muldoon was stale from the beginning. But it got worse. For some eight years, Muldoon sat in the horribly mismanaged Pinnacle Hip MDL in Texas. It appears that nothing at all happened during those years . . . [until] 2023, when the case was ultimately remanded, without comment. So, due to the combined lassitude of the plaintiffs and MDL management, the suit is nearly 14½ years post-surgery, and only now being addressed on the pleadings.
(citations and quotation marks omitted).
Finally, in Muldoon v. DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., 2025 U.S. Dist. Lexis 34013 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 25, 2025), it was dismissed with prejudice. And in the end, the plaintiff didn’t even put up a fight. Faced with the defendant’s latest dismissal motion, “[p]laintiff has declined to file any opposition.” Id. at *2. What was at stake this time were the claims that had survived the defendant’s first dismissal motion against the plaintiff’s absurdly excessive 18-count post-MDL amended complaint. We had some words to say about that complaint as well: “It is a dog’s breakfast. Or it is what our dogs deliver to our yard right after consuming their breakfast.”
Continue Reading Muldoon Dismissed – The End of an Error?
Last summer, we gleaned the bitter fields of Davidson v. Sprout Foods, Inc., an opinion in which the Ninth Circuit allowed direct private enforcement of Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) food labeling requirements because the class plaintiff used the fig leaf of California’s Sherman Act to do so. Our post about the Ninth