With mass torts, plaintiffs and their attorneys have both state and federal options when considering where to pursue their claims. The conventional wisdom has been that federal courts are “defense friendly” – with substantive and procedural requirements and rules which may be unfamiliar or appear restrictive to attorneys who practice primarily in state courts. The
The orders from the March JPML panel hearing have been posted, and the JPML issued an order denying a motion by a plaintiff to centralize her case in the Mirena IUD device litigation MDL proceeding in the SDNY. In its order, the JPML indicated that centralization into the pending MDL was denied because the potential
The fallout from one of the messiest mergers in American history appears to have entered its final stage on Monday, March 30th, when Sprint agreed to pay investors $131 million in a settlement dating back to the beleaguered 2005 Nextel acquisition. Lauded at the time as the creation of a telecom dynasty, technological incompatibility led
Federal preemption of claims against generic drug manufacturers has prevented (or severely limited) the ability of users of generic drugs from bringing products liability claims premised upon the failure to warn. Certain state courts have indicated that some state tort law claims may not necessarily be barred by federal preemption, but these “baby steps” potentially
The WPLA defines five categories of potential liability for product manufacturers: construction defects, breach of warranty, design defects, failure to warn, and post-sale duty to warn. Construction Defects The WPLA uses the term “strict liability” to describe a manufacturer’s responsibility for products that materially deviate from the manufacturers design specifications or performance standards or materially
The first conference in the Xarelto MDL (In Re: Xarelto (Rivoroxaban) Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2592, proceeding in the Eastern District of Louisiana, before the Hon. Eldon E. Fallon, took place on January 29, 2015. Judge Fallon, an experienced MDL presiding judge, has already set up a website for the MDL (http://www.laed.uscourts.gov/xarelto), with posts of
A flurry of orders have issued from the chambers of the Hon. Joseph R. Goodwin, the United States District Judge presiding over the pelvic mesh MDLs in the Southern District of West Virginia, Charleston Division. The Court vacated and reset a bellwether trial set for December 4, 2014 to March 2, 2015, in Bellew v.
Have you ever seen one of those metal head massagers, the ones with thin, spider-like metal legs that bend and flex to tickle your scalp? That’s pretty much exactly how inferior vena cava filters look, except IVC filters are much smaller – they fit inside a vein, and are used to catch blood clots before
The Supreme Court overruled the Tenth Circuit in finding that a petition for removal to the federal courts under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1332(d)(A)-(C), was sufficient. The Court found that under CAFA, which gives federal courts jurisdiction over class actions if the amount in controversy exceeds $5 million,
Last year, a Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) was created to consolidate lawsuits against McNeil PPC, Inc., the company that owns Johnson and Johnson, alleging that “over-the-counter (“OTC”) acetaminophen containing products that are [marketed] and sold under its TYLENOL® brand-name caused liver damage, including liver failure, even when taken as directed.” Currently, there are about 125 Tylenol