After nearly three years of litigation winding through California’s appellate courts, the closely watched Gilead Tenofovir Cases is finally set for oral argument before the California Supreme Court on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. in San Francisco. The case presents a question with potentially sweeping consequences for product liability law: Does a pharmaceutical
We observed oral argument the other day in a case that could have a significant impact on potential liability under California tort law for pharma companies and all other innovators. In Gilead v. Superior Court, No. A165558 (Cal. Ct. App. First Dist.), a panel of the California Court of Appeal is considering whether a
No good deed goes unpunished. One of our very first cases was a pro bono case for the Red Cross following a Northern California earthquake. The Red Cross gave a local homeowner money to repair her home. It was a gift. No strings attached. Please, take our money and fix your house. Live long and
Mention the Third Restatement of Torts and the learned intermediary rule in the same sentence, and our response would be to cite §6(d) of the product liability part of the Restatement. But the Third Restatement also confirms that this widely followed (perhaps the most widely followed) legal rule also applies to negligence causes of
It’s hard to escape the suspicion that blue states are more pro-plaintiff and red states are more pro-defense, though that is not a hard and fast rule. There are parts of Alabama and Texas where it is hard for an out of state corporate defendant to get a fair shake. Delaware and West Virginia also
Way back in law school we learned that a plaintiff suing for negligence must satisfy four elements: (1) duty, (2) breach, (3) causation, and (4) injury. Every one of these elements can be a battleground. Even what seems like the simplest inquiry – whether the plaintiff was injured – can be controversial. We have