Did it seem to you in law school that sometimes the hardest part of reading cases was not deciphering some obscure legal principle — say, the difference between larceny by trick and taking under false pretenses, or the Rule in Shelley’s Case, or pretty much anything in Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code —
Texas
From a Texas-Sized Mess to All Hat and No Cattle in Two Pages

Little more than a year ago, in our “Texas Mess” post, we critiqued what we called a “bizarre complaint” recently filed by the Texas attorney general (“TAG”) against a major COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer. We described that complaint as a mélange of “various antivax conspiracy theories concerning COVID-19 vaccines, the FDA, emergency…
No Bespoke Products Liability Claims in Texas

Bespoke makes us think of tailoring, which makes us think of London’s Savile Row, which makes us think of Annie’s You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile (“who cares what they’re wearing on Main Street or Savile Row”). Which as it turns out is perfect for today’s case about a plaintiff who wanted the court…
Texas Says No to Putting the Cart Before the Horse
Don’t Want To Let These Go Stale

Here are a couple of recent developments that we don’t want to let get stale.
Oglesby v. Medtronic, Inc., 2024 WL 1283341 (5th Cir. March 26, 2024), is an excellent, but unfortunately unpublished, affirmance of summary judgment under Texas law in medical device case. Plaintiff brought various claims, and appealed the dismissal of two…
A Texas Mess

We have no inclination to mess with Texas. Heck, a state ornery enough to secede from two different countries in order to preserve slavery isn’t likely to care, anyway. So if Texas wants to run its own power grid, not connect to the rest of us, and freeze in the dark when that system fails, we’re certainly not going to stand in the way. Conversely, when Texas emphatically adopted the learned intermediary rule in Centocor, Inc. v. Hamilton, 372 S.W.3d 140 (Tex. 2012), we hailed it as the best decision of 2012.
But when Texas decides to mess with the rest of us…. Well, that’s different.
So we do have comments on the bizarre complaint that the Texas attorney general recently filed over COVID-19. The complaint, brought under the Texas consumer protection statute, sued a major manufacturer of COVID-19 vaccine that was used to control the recent pandemic. That Complaint alleges various antivax conspiracy theories concerning COVID-19 vaccines, the FDA, emergency use authorizations, and the media that have circulated since these vaccines first became available. The Texas Complaint also claims that, in various ways, the vaccine manufacturer violated certain mandatory FDCA provisions and FDA regulations (¶22), did not follow voluntary FDA guidance (¶¶25-31), supposedly committed fraud on the FDA by submitting misleading data (¶¶47, 117, 120-21), and mostly that it purportedly misled the public and/or the press (¶¶50, 55-91, 154-55, 157-59, 161-63, 165-66, 168-69).Continue Reading A Texas Mess
No Medical Device Exemptions to Texas Statute of Repose
Fortune Favors The Bold Plaintiff In Texas Personal Jurisdiction Case

Lawyers and wannabe lawyers like to use Latin words and phrases without always understanding their original meaning. English, a Germanic language according to the family tree, is peppered with words that are derived from Latin. Being the conglomeration that it is, English includes some words—egregious comes to mind—that now mean the opposite of their Latin…
Failure to Test Claim Dismissed in Texas

A little less than three years ago we posted about a decision by a federal court in Pennsylvania that twisted Texas and Supreme Court precedent to find an independent claim for failure to test under Texas law. So, we could not resist blogging about a Texas court reaching the exact opposite conclusion.
Earlier this year…
S.D. Texas: PMA Preemption and Twiqbal Doom Stent Graft Warnings and Manufacturing Defect Claims

When last we wrote, we had just watched our gorgeous standard poodle puppy, Luca, compete in his first weekend of dog shows. He was still learning the ropes, and, though he looked beautiful, he did not win any points. (Dog shows are worth from one to five points for each breed, depending on the number…