We have a confession: we leave the TV on for the Drug and Device Law Little Rescue Dogs when we leave the house. A couple of days ago, they were watching Love It or List It when we left for the grocery store. When we returned, the screen was black. We are told that something
Daubert
Maryland Drifts Into Daubert

That’s how Maryland’s highest court chose to characterize its gradual move from Frye to Daubert – a drifting process. Like the way the ocean drifts ashore as the tide is rising. Creeping a little higher, each wave covering and absorbing a little more of the beach. As it slowly inches toward your chair where you’re…
N.D. Fla.’s. Mixed Bag of Vaginal Mesh Daubert Rulings

It is an old legal adage that hard cases make bad law. One could also say that big cases make bad law, especially if by “big” we include Multi-District Litigation (MDL) cases. When a federal judge is suddenly in charge of thousands of cases, that judge will too often start thinking more like a manager…
Expert Excluded, and Summary Judgment Granted, In Remanded Pelvic Mesh Case

One day last week, we were sitting at our computer watching a torrential rainstorm through the windows of our home office. It occurred to us, based on some recent seepage, that we should check our basement. We opened the door to the most-unwelcome sound of rushing water. Momentarily confused, we identified the source: a new…
Guest Post – Reverse Engineering Can Get You Only So Far. Florida Case Dismissed After Grant of Daubert Motions.
Today’s guest post comes from Karl Neumann at Cozen & O’Connor. He was on the team that won this case, and sent us such a detailed description that we invited him to write it up himself – and he was kind enough to take us up on that offer. The title tells you what…
General Causation Experts Excluded In Viagra/Cialis MDL

The Ninth Circuit has not been great for us on Daubert. I suppose it is more accurate to say that the Ninth Circuit has not been great for those who oppose the introduction of unreliable scientific expert opinions. But that is usually us, the defendants resisting plaintiffs’ efforts to get to juries with scientific…
Bair Hugger MDL Defendants Prevail on Daubert and Summary Judgment

Summer can be a good time to catch up on tv shows we missed the first time around (e.g., Dead to Me, Luther series 5, and Catch-22). It can also be a good time to catch up on cases we somehow failed to flag when they came out earlier in the year. We won’t beat…
Clean Sweep of Plaintiffs’ Causation Experts in Gadolinium Litigation

Today we bring you a terrific Daubert defense win. But, we’ll be honest it’s long. Really long. Thorough, but long. So, we’re going to hit the highlights.
The case is Davis v. McKesson Corp., 2019 WL 3532179 (D. Ariz. Aug. 2, 2019). It is a multi-plaintiff case against manufacturers and distributors of gadolinium-based contrast…
Passive “Gatekeeping” in Biomet Hip Implant Daubert Decision

A couple of years ago, we were overjoyed to learn that our very favorite old-fashioned Broadway musical was being revived. The lead role – a famously brassy female character – was being played by a famously brassy singer and sometime-actress we believed was perfectly cast. We bought tickets the day they went on sale, and…
Seventh Circuit Rejects Novel Causation Theory

Having three experts couldn’t save plaintiff’s claims in Robinson v. Davol Inc., 2019 WL 275555 (7th Cir. Jan. 22, 2019). Plaintiffs’ decedent underwent surgery involving a surgical mesh patch and approximately one year later, she developed an abdominal wall abscess that led to various infections that ultimately led to her death. Id. at *2. …