Lots of cases get parked in MDLs. There is no denying it. It’s built into the system. Individual cases get brought together in a single court for the purpose of consolidated pretrial proceedings. For the most part, except for cases selected as bellwethers, that means MDLs are focused on general discovery, general experts, and general
We are going to Peoria next week. On an airplane. Ordinarily, this would not be newsworthy, but we are irrationally excited to be taking this step toward normalcy. We have long comforted apprehensive young lawyers by assuring them that any event provoking fear would soon recede into the past tense. The last year did not
We tend to favor a “glass half full” outlook. We are preternaturally sunshiny during our daily “how was your day” calls from the 86-year-old Drug and Device Law Dowager Countess. (We have not mentioned, for example, that our aging dog has begun sleeping most of the day and barking most of the night, resulting in
Sometimes a case has one bright shining point floating in a sea of not-so-good ones, or a stand-out result lost among outcomes that should have gone the other way. That describes Isaac v. C.R. Bard, Inc., No. A-19-CV-895, 2021 WL 1177882 (W.D. Tex. Mar. 29, 2021), a case remanded from the Bard IVC filter
It may be tempting to dismiss as boilerplate the “choice of law” discussion that precedes the “standard of review” in a typical brief. But while choice of law may not always be challenging or pivotal, just as often it is both. Today’s case, Peterson v. C.R. Bard Incorporated, 2021 WL 799305 (D. Or. Mar.
Plaintiffs love to tell juries how horrible the defendant’s product is. They’ll tell them how the product kills people – even though the plaintiff in the case didn’t die. They’ll try to bring up purported cancer risks although the plaintiff doesn’t have cancer. They’ll argue that, if the defendant’s device were to fail, they’d face
This is the third consecutive week a case from Indiana has been in our sights. By and large, we have been impressed with the quality of the Indiana judiciary in both the state and federal courts. One hallmark of exemplary judging is the capacity to revisit rulings and change course when necessary. We clerked for
The decision in In re Bard IVC Filters Products Liability Litigation, 969 F.3d 1067 (9th Cir. 2020) (“Booker”), is yet another reminder that multidistrict litigation as it is currently conducted is a fundamentally flawed process, dedicated more to forcing settlements than to any of the goals envisioned by Congress when it passed
As we write this, it is a glorious Labor Day Monday in the suburbs of Philadelphia. We are pleased to confirm that the Drug and Device Law Rock Climber retrieved her dogs last week, though not before we rushed to the vet one last time, this time to address the Pom’s allergic skin reaction to
We begin with an update on the “visiting dogs’ health crisis.” All medications are finished, special diets are a thing of the past, and (dare we say it out loud) all canine digestive tracts seem peaceful. The chubby Pomeranian was relieved of about four inches of hair today at the hands of a