A little over a month ago, we blogged about the Pennsylvania Superior Court (the Commonwealth’s general intermediate appellate court deciding a test case, Zitney v. Wyeth LLC, 2020 WL 6129173 (Pa. Super. Oct. 19, 2020), that held, as a matter of first impression, that there was no separate duty for a prescription medical product
Pennsylvania
Nationwide Medical Monitoring Class Rejected

Procedural considerations often decide cases. Sometimes, weighty legal issues are reached through quirky procedural routes. When it comes to whether state tort law provides medical monitoring as a remedy for people who do not have a present compensable injury, that is a legal (and policy) issue. We have written many times that we think foundational…
Cannonball! Pennsylvania Opts for the Jurisdictional Deep End

Back in 2018, upon reading the bad general jurisdiction by consent decision, Webb-Benjamin, LLC v. International Rug Group, LLC, 192 A.3d 1133 (Pa. Super. 2018), and the worse Hammons v. Ethicon, Inc., 190 A.3d 1248 (Pa. Super. 2018), “specific” (we use that term advisedly) jurisdiction case a few months later, we commented that…
No Pennsylvania Duty To Send “Dear Healthcare Provider” Letters
In a significant, albeit unpublished, decision, an intermediate appellate court in Pennsylvania has ruled that there is no recognized Pennsylvania common-law “duty” for prescription medical product manufacturers to send Dear Healthcare Provider (“DHCP”, a/k/a “Dear Doctor”) letters about label changes. Zitney v. Wyeth LLC, 2020 WL 6129173 (Pa. Super. Oct. 19, 2020).
Zitney arose…
And Now for Something Completely Different

Anyone remember Monty Python’s first movie, before anyone had ever heard of them? Along with the dead parrot and the Lumberjack Song, “And Now For Something Completely Different” featured a formally dressed man, sitting at an unexceptional desk, both of the sort you might find in a British law firm of the era (early…
A Great Comment k Decision from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

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…
Another Bad Comment k Decision from a Pennsylvania Federal Court

Last weekend, the Drug and Device Law Rock Climber passed through to drop off her two dogs – a four-pound Chihuahua and a chubby Pomeranian, now hirsute, who was nearly bald from a skin infection when he was rescued a year ago. These are very cute dogs who mostly get along with the Drug and…
What Exactly Did the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Do in Walsh?
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently decided Walsh v. BASF Corp., ___ A.3d ___, 2020 WL 4135151 (Pa. July 21, 2020), reaffirming product identification as an essential element of product liability.
Below, the Superior Court had turned a trial court’s routine Fryebert-like exclusion ruling in a chemical exposure case into scary new precedent in…
Updates x3

Today we’re updating our readers on new developments this month relating to three of our prior posts.
First, back in March we reported on an “Advocate’s General’s opinion” in a case before the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”). See the original post for details, but the plaintiff was asserting the radical claim that EU…
Personal Jurisdiction Win in Pennsylvania

Earlier this year we posted about the decision on defendant’s motion to dismiss in Crockett v. Luitpold Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 2020 WL 433367 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 28, 2020). We called it a “patchwork” decision, meaning we generally liked it but it wasn’t a seamless defense victory. Well, the court ruled on another defense motion just this…