Statute of Limitations

Subscribe to Statute of Limitations via RSS
Photo of Eric Hudson

We almost never post on securities decisions, but we’re making an exception today. Our readers know that the initiation of MDLs and state court coordinated proceedings—often loaded with unvetted and bogus claims—can drive down defendants’ stock prices. When that happens the plaintiffs’ class action bar swoops in and files securities class actions, essentially trying to make the same defendant pay twice for the same claims.  Call it the “unholy alliance.” Today’s decision (another one arising out of the Zantac litigation) is notable because it strikes directly at the linkage between mass torts and the securities class actions that try to play piggyback.  In Roofers Loc. No. 149 Pension Fund v. GSK PLC, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44087 (E.D. Pa. March 4, 2026), the information contained in mass tort filings and accompanying discovery were enough to bar the securities class action based on the statute of limitations.

Continue Reading Untimely Piggybacking
Photo of Eric Hudson

We’ve blogged about aspects of the Model Drug Dealer Liability Act before. Over 20 states have enacted versions of the model act in an effort to shift liability for harm caused by illegal drugs to the drug dealers and traffickers who sell and promote illegal drug use.  Those are not normally the types of claims of interest to our readers. But, given that we’ve been blogging this week about fraudulent and harmful medical procedures and junk science in mass torts, maybe it’s no surprise that today’s decision deals with an attempt to use a version of the model act as a  vehicle for finding liability against a major distributor of legitimate, FDA-approved drugs. McKesson Corp. v. Bolton, 2026 WL 394505 (Ga. App. Feb. 12, 2026).

Continue Reading A Drug Dealer? Seriously?
Photo of Lisa Baird

Note: There is a table in this post that may be easier to view on a phone than on a computer.

Medical device preemption provides powerful protection from litigation involving Class III devices with premarket approval (or “PMA”). 

These devices are a very small subset of FDA-regulated medical devices – around 1% — and they…

Photo of Andrew Tauber

We have frequently reported on plaintiffs’ efforts to salvage untimely claims in the Taxotere MDL. See, for example, here, here, and here. As we explained here, the basic problem for many plaintiffs—who claim that the chemotherapy drug Taxotere caused them permanent hair loss—is how the MDL master complaint defines the plaintiffs’…

The orders denying untimely, post-remand attempts to amend complaints in the Taxotere litigation are piling up, and it doesn’t get old.  We recently reported on one such denial in the Northern District of California.  In recent weeks, district courts in New York, North Carolina, and Tennessee (among others) have joined in.  Today we report on three of those decisions.

Continue Reading More Taxotere Remand Courts Deny Untimely Amendments
Photo of Bexis

We’ve blogged before about the plaintiffs’ self-defeating “injury” definition in the Taxotere mass tort litigation.  Specifically, plaintiffs have defined their injury as being hair loss that persists more than six months after their cessation of treatment with the defendant’s cancer chemotherapy drug.  But, because this litigation (like most product liability MDLs) only exists because of lawyer solicitation, such solicitation dredges up many plaintiffs who sat on their hands for much longer than the aforesaid six month period.  Having a date certain as to when the injury exists greatly assists any defendant in winning dismissal of these stale claims on statute of limitations grounds.

That’s not just true in the Taxotere MDL

Continue Reading Taxotere Timing Troubles Persistently Plague Plaintiffs
Photo of Rachel B. Weil

We are back from a weeklong vacation in Greece, with time split between Athens and a lovely, tiny, lightly-touristed island called Symi.  We offer these observations:

  • It is challenging, but not impossible, to enjoy the copious culinary offerings on international flights without removing one’s N-95 and face shield.
  • The fifteen-hour overnight ferry trip from Athens

…

Photo of Stephen McConnell

A couple of times in recent weeks we have discussed pelvic mesh cases where a central issue was whether the cases were time-barred by a statute of limitations or repose. (See here and here.) There is a reason why this issue crops up persistently. The pelvic mesh litigation started off as a mass tort…

Photo of Michelle Yeary

Today we bring you the DDL blog version of the “duck test.”  The “duck test” goes like this – if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.  When you see a duck swimming in a pond, you don’t normally say:  “hey, look…

Drug & Device Resources

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.
Learn more about this book