Zantac

Subscribe to Zantac via RSS
Photo of Eric Hudson

This post is not from the Reed Smith or Dechert sides of the blog.

We hope we’re not the only ones distracted by the Winter Olympics. We’re breathless from Breezy Johnson taking gold in the downhill, Jordan Stoltz emerging as the U.S. speed-skating phenom, Jessie Diggins battling bruised ribs to take bronze in the 10K cross country freestyle, and Ilia Malinin throwing in a back-flip in his skating routine just for kicks—despite it not earning him any points. Not to mention short-track skating, biathlon, luge, moguls, snowboard-cross, bobsledding, the Olympic debut of ski mountaineering, and all kinds of other ski and snowboarding events where the contestants either fly down mountains at cataclysm-embracing speeds or hurl themselves into the stratosphere while contorting themselves in twists and turns that make us dizzy. Combine that competition and athleticism with the Olympic themes of unity and sportsmanship, and you can see why we’ve got Olympic fever.

We were particularly enthralled with the U.S. mixed-double’s curling team. This is from humble bloggers who, other than every four years, have no idea what curling is. But when the Winter Olympics roll around, we’re watching to see who’s dominating the house and who has the hammer. The U.S. mixed doubles team had never taken home a curling medal. This year’s team, Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin, absolutely dominated the round robin and earned a spot in the medal round. After a magnificent shot in the last end (like a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth), the U.S. defeated defending gold-medalist Italy for a chance to play for the gold medal. While “Corey and Korey” ending up taking home silver, it was the first ever medal for the U.S. in mixed curling and the first ever Olympic medal in curling for an American woman. What a run.    

One of the curling commentators noted that Korey Dropkin was one of the best sweepers in the game. While it may be a stretch to connect curling to the legal side of these posts, we think it is fair to note that mass torts defendants often engage in years of clean up after securing victories in mass torts. Call it sweeping the house if you will. Case in point is the Zantac litigation. The defendants secured litigation-ending rulings excluding plaintiffs’ general causation experts in the federal MDL (which we posted about here and here).  Plaintiffs then fled to Delaware (of all places to see mass torts plaintiffs flocking, we continue to be surprised and disappointed at this trend).  The Delaware trial court refused to follow the well-reasoned decisions from the MDL and appeared to give new life to the Zantac litigation (see this post), but the Delaware Supreme Court reversed and remanded with instructions for the trial court to apply Delaware’s Rule 702 consistently with the federal rule (see here).  Continue Reading The Zantac Defense Has the Hammer in Delaware

Photo of Bexis

Not long ago we published a blogpost, “New California Ranitidine Litigation Order Makes A Huge Mess Of Everything” about a California trial court decision that created, out of whole cloth, what it called a “hybrid theory” of strict liability that jumbled together elements of the long-established – and long separate – concepts of design and manufacturing defect, while sprinkling in the negligence concept of intent.  See In re Rantidine Cases, 2025 WL 2796831 (Cal. Super. Sept. 15, 2025).  As a result, the court allowed a “manufacturing” defect that was uniform across all units of the product, because it construed plaintiffs’ attack on the defendants’ manufacturing processes as a manufacturing defect.

In this post we will attempt to describe just how far out of bounds this “hybrid theory” really is.Continue Reading California Design vs. Manufacturing Defects – Neer the Twain Shall Meet

Photo of Bexis

Add Connecticut to the list of Zantac multi-plaintiff losses, following the Florida multidistrict litigation (our “Zantac Chronicles” series of posts, and the Delaware Supreme Court).  Only this time the several hundred Connecticut plaintiffs that were dismissed never even reached the absurd causation allegations that doomed the MDL and Delaware cases.  Rather, these Connecticut plaintiffs didn’t even have a means to establish personal jurisdiction over the non-Connecticut defendants they sued.  Bacher v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 2025 WL 2463143 (Conn. Super. Aug. 22, 2025).Continue Reading Hundreds of Non-Resident Zantac Plaintiffs Run Out of Connecticut

Photo of Eric Hudson

This post is not from the Reed Smith, Dechert, or Holland & Knight side of the blog.

We’re pretty sure no one teaches about MDL census registries in law school. They’re a relatively new creation, and we previously blogged about them here. Essentially, registries create a mechanism where plaintiffs’ counsel can park potential claims without paying a filing fee while records are collected to determine if the claimant can establish Rule 11 basics like product use and injury.  Records are typically collected by a vendor—for which the MDL defendants pay half the costs. The benefit defendants receive is a commitment that, if the claim is ultimately filed, it has to be filed in the MDL or other federal court.Continue Reading More from the Zantac MDL – Census Registries and Enforcement of Forum Selection Certifications

This post is from the non-Reed Smith, non-Dechert, and non-Holland & Knight side of the blog. 

We have covered the ranitidine litigation before. As we explained in prior posts (including here and here), plaintiffs allege that ranitidine, the active ingredient in Zantac, breaks down into N-Nitrosodimethylamine (“NDMA”), particularly at higher temperatures.  NDMA is a known carcinogen and a ubiquitous substance present in the environment and in all manner of foods including bacon, beer, and cheese.  Readers will remember that in a sweeping, 341-page opinion, the MDL court cut the head off the federal Zantac litigation by excluding plaintiffs’ experts.  But other parts of the snake keep slithering. Continue Reading Delaware Zantac Court Fails to Keep the Gate

Photo of Bexis

What follows is from the non-Dechert side of the blog.

The history of the Zantac MDL has been one novel claim after another from the plaintiffs’ side.  Fortunately, the vast majority of those ideas have gotten nowhere.  That’s what most recently happened in In re Zantac (Ranitidine) Products Liability Litigation, ___ F.R.D. ___, 2023 WL 1797264 (S.D. Fla. Feb. 7, 2023).  The plaintiffs filed something entitled “Expedited Motion to Permit Multi-Plaintiff Complaints for Registry Claimants.”  This was the plaintiffs’ attempt to avoid paying filing fees for around 58,000 “registry claimants” − who are now obligated to make up their minds and file their complaints – or forever hold their peace.Continue Reading Zantac MDL Zaps Crazy Consolidation Claims

Photo of Bexis

Today’s guest post by Reed Smith’s Kevin Hara arises indirectly from the Zantac MDL, but addresses a recurring preliminary question of federal jurisdiction − fraudulent joinder. That issue, in turn, involves product identification (another problem in MDLs) and a pointer for pharmacies that want to avoid being involved in pharmaceutical litigation. As always our guest…

Photo of Bexis

What follows is from the non-Dechert side of the Blog.

In the Zantac MDL, the plaintiffs’ causation problems were plainly visible on the horizon, as we mentioned in our post last year about the Zantac ruling on medical monitoring, In re Zantac (Ranitidine) Products Liability Litigation, 546 F. Supp.3d 1152 (S.D. Fla. 2021).  The Zantac MDL plaintiffs’ claims regarding risk of injury and exposure levels to purported ranitidine-derived nitrosamines (“NDMA” for short) seemed not only trivial, but in many ways bizarre (use of extreme temperatures and other parameters).  They even relied on a retracted study.  That’s why we referred to the “wheels coming off” the plaintiffs’ scientific case in that post.

Now the plaintiffs’ wheels are fully off in Zantac MDL – as we mentioned before, all of their causation experts for the five types of cancer that plaintiffs themselves considered the most plausible have been excluded under F.R. Evid. 702, and summary judgment entered.  In re Zantac (Ranitidine) Products Liability Litigation, ___ F. Supp.3d ___, 2022 WL 17480906 (S.D. Fla. Dec. 6, 2022).  This is a lengthy opinion, 341 pages in slip form.  To keep this post as short as possible, we’ll be summarizing (at best) large parts of it.Continue Reading Zantac Chronicles – Concluding Chapters in the MDL

Photo of Bexis

In a 341-page opinion, In re Zantac (Ranitidine) Products Liability Litigation, 9:20-md-02924-RLR, slip op. (S.D. Fla. Dec. 6, 2022), the MDL court held that all of the Zantac plaintiffs’ general causation experts (concerning five cancer types) failed to meet the admissibility standards of Fed. R. Evid. 702. Consequently the court granted the defendants’ motions…

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