This post is from the non-Butler Snow side of the blog.
When you represent medical device manufacturers in product liability litigation, you will deal with allegations that a device broke or failed because of what it was made from, and you will encounter both experts and “experts” (scare quotes intended) in materials science.
Materials science
It is not uncommon that terms are used without knowledge of their origin and that the origin is instructive about the meaning or proper application of the term. We offer two examples. Many lawyers who at least dabble in product liability litigation have heard the term “Bradford Hill criteria.” Was it named after two different
Listen to your gut. Follow your instincts. Trust your intuition. Great advice in many situations. Like deciding whether to buy skinny jeans or whether to buy your forever home. Or, when things seem “off” or feel “dangerous.” Or, when your body is trying to tell you something about your health. These are all times to
A recent published opinion from the Ninth Circuit covers two issues near and dear to our hearts—federal preemption and claims based on outside laboratory testing. We care about federal preemption because . . . well, because we are the Drug and Device Law Blog, where there are some weeks when we write on preemption every
We are headed to Guitar Town. That’s Nashville to you. Guitars are played and guitars (including the magnificent Gibson ES-335) are made there. We aim to sample plenty of live music and hot chicken. But the reason for our trip is the Defense Research Institute (DRI) Drug and Medical Device Conference. Tomorrow we will be
We are on a DRI panel this September in Nashville discussing challenges to expert testimony, so we are especially vigilant when it comes to new cases on this subject. The rulings on expert admissibility in United States v. Biogen Idec., Inc., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120549 (D. Mass. July 8, 2022), are not especially
A very helpful to-be-published opinion from the California Court of Appeal caught our eye this week because it comes out the correct way on an issue that has always bothered us: Does a defendant (not the plaintiff) in a product defect case have to offer evidence on medical causation to a reasonable degree of medical
The “mesh case of the week” — Robinson v. Ethicon, Inc., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36441 (S.D. Texas March 2, 2022)— is a veritable mixed bag. We cannot decide whether to carry that bag from the car trunk to the kitchen table or just heave it in the dumpster.
The issue in Robinson was
We posted just the other day about widespread judicial reluctance to follow the expert admissibility standards imposed by Federal Rule of Evidence 702. We called out the Eighth Circuit as a prime example of that problem, and we discussed the committee-approved amendments to Rule 702 that are intended to reinforce the need for expert opinions
The California Court of Appeal has finally filed its opinion in the much-discussed talc ovarian cancer case, Echeverria v. Johnson & Johnson, No. B286283, 2019 WL 3001626 (Cal. Ct. App. July 9, 2019), and while it is not a complete win for the defense, it was close, and there is much to talk about.