Michigan

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On its face, Osos v. Nuvasive, Inc., 2024 WL 3585092 (E.D. Mich. July 30, 2024), is a fairly routine medical implant product liability lawsuit, involving allegations of metallosis that have already been around the block quite a few times in hip implant cases.  Osos involves a somewhat different device, but the legal principles are no different.

But Osos involves Michigan law, and Michigan (as we first mentioned at the end of last year, and discussed more thoroughly here) only recently repealed a longstanding conclusive presumption of non-defectiveness based on FDA drug approvals.  That presumption, which “functionally foreclosed” most product liability claims against, such products, White v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 538 F. Supp.2d 1023, 1029 (W.D. Mich. 2008), undoubtedly reduced litigation by Michigan plaintiffs.  See Our “Michigan Diaspora” post.  The repeal will equally undoubtedly cause Michigan prescription medical product litigation to rebound.Continue Reading Possible Learned Intermediary Showdown in Michigan

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Today’s guest post is by Sherry Knutson and Brenda Sweet of Tucker Ellis, and concerns the recently passed legislative repeal of a Michigan statute that, for several decades had effectively immunized prescription drugs from ordinary product liability actions under Michigan law. For background, here’s a prior blogpost that focused on the now-repealed statute. As…

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Today’s decision comes from In re: Proton Pump Inhibitor Products Liability Litigation—an MDL pending in New Jersey.  But the decision is all about the 197 Michigan plaintiffs in the MDL.  The plaintiffs who either live in Michigan, got their prescription in Michigan, were diagnosed with their injury in Michigan, and/or received treatment for their…

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We have promised ourselves that we will stream this week’s “This Is Us” episode when we finish this blog post.  We love this series beyond reason, and we dread its imminent demise, notwithstanding the title’s grammatical transgression.  (We generally condition any sort of allegiance on correct use of predicate nominatives.)  We are struck, over and…

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There was once a musician from Michigan who rapped that “the FCC won’t let me be.”  This was in the context of claiming that his songs were only permitted to be played over this thing called radio with edits that he apparently found unacceptable.  In Cyr v. Ford Motor Co., No. 345751, 2019 WL…

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A product is not defective simply because someone was harmed by it. That seems a simple enough point. Courts often acknowledge it, though sometimes in a perfunctory, mumbling fashion. What gives teeth to the mumbling is when state law requires the plaintiff to show a safer alternative product. If really pressed, many plaintiffs cannot articulate…

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Bexis’ Book

FDA-regulated products now account for an estimated one-fifth of overall economic activity in the U.S. They have also been the focus of a litigation explosion. This timely guide covers all aspects of litigation involving drugs, medical devices, vaccines and other FDA-regulated prescription products.
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