Mealey's Drugs & Devices : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Drugs & Devices

December 12, 2024
Oral Arguments On Indivior’s Motion To Dismiss Suboxone Case Set For Dec. 16

CLEVELAND — Counsel for plaintiffs in the Suboxone film multidistrict litigation as well as counsel for the drug’s manufacturer filed a joint notice with the court on Dec. 12, agreeing that the only topic to be discussed at a Dec. 16 hearing will be a pending motion to dismiss filed by the manufacturer.
December 10, 2024
Ohio Product Liability Act Bars Public Nuisance Claims, State High Court Rules

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court on Dec. 10 ruled that public nuisance claims are abrogated under the Ohio Product Liability Act (OPLA), answering a certified question from the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which is hearing an appeal of a $650.6 million judgment awarded to two Ohio counties that allege that Walgreens, CVS and Walmart helped fuel the nationwide opioid epidemic.
December 10, 2024
2nd Circuit Says Appeals On Exclusion Of Causation Experts To ‘Be Heard In Tandem’

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that four appeals filed by parents who allege that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen causes autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) but saw their claims dismissed after a New York federal judge in two separate orders excluded their causation experts “be heard in tandem by the same panel.”
December 06, 2024
Senators Reintroduce Bill Barring Texas 2-Step Restructurings, Nondebtor Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three U.S. senators reintroduced a bill on Dec. 5 that would force courts to dismiss any Chapter 11 case where a company has used the Texas Two-Step to place all of its liabilities, usually from asbestos personal injury claims, with a spinoff company that then files for bankruptcy protection. The measure would also prohibit the use of nonconsensual, nondebtor releases of third parties in bankruptcy cases, which the U.S. Supreme Court recently held are illegal.
December 06, 2024
Jury Hands Medical Device Company A Win In Ethylene Oxide Wrongful Death Case

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania state court jury on Dec. 6 handed down a verdict in favor of a medical device company in a lawsuit brought by a widow who contended that the company’s use of ethylene oxide (EtO) at a facility where it sterilizes medical instruments caused her husband’s wrongful death.
December 05, 2024
Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

New developments in the following mass tort drug and device cases are marked in boldface type.
December 05, 2024
West Virginia Woman Says Toe Cartilage Implant Failed; Company Issues Recall

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A woman sued the manufacturers of a synthetic cartilage implant (SCI) device used to treat arthritis in a toe joint, alleging that the device failed and caused considerable pain and future surgeries.
December 04, 2024
Artificial Tears Maker, Seller Lose Bid To Toss Injury Case In N.J. Federal Court

NEWARK, N.J. — A woman’s complaint against the makers and sellers of an artificial tears product that she claims caused an eye infection largely survived two motions to dismiss filed in a New Jersey federal court.
December 04, 2024
Plaintiffs File Amended Master Complaint In Bard Port Catheter MDL

PHOENIX — Co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation involving C.R. Bard Inc.’s implanted port catheter (IPC) device on Dec. 3 filed a second amended master long-form complaint and jury trial demand in an Arizona federal court over claims that the defective devices caused various injuries, including death.
December 04, 2024
PBMs File Objection To Special Master’s Discovery Ruling In Opioid MDL

CLEVELAND — Two pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) in the opioid multidistrict litigation filed an objection to a special master’s ruling that 14 documents prepared by a legal department as part of an internal investigation are not privileged.
December 03, 2024
MDL Sought For Cases Alleging Depo-Provera Caused Development Of Brain Tumor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Women who allege that they developed intracranial meningiomas, a type of brain tumor, from their use of Depo-Provera, a long-lasting injectable contraceptive, have asked the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to transfer all currently filed and any subsequently filed cases and centralize them in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
December 02, 2024
Misleading ‘Non-Drowsy’ Medicine Label Case Against CVS Survives Dismissal Motion

ST. LOUIS — A woman’s lawsuit that she was misled into purchasing over-the-counter (OTC) CVS-branded medicines that were labeled non-drowsy when in fact they cause drowsiness survived a motion to dismiss filed by CVS Pharmacy Inc. after a federal judge in Missouri ruled that her claims are not pre-empted by the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
December 02, 2024
N.C. State Legislators Argue Against Preemption Ruling For Mifepristone On Appeal

RICHMOND, Va. — A doctor who sued North Carolina over its laws regulating mifepristone, one of the two drugs prescribed for medication abortions, stretches “obstacle preemption beyond recognition,” argue two state legislators who intervened in the case on behalf of the General Assembly after the governor stated that he agreed with the doctor and urged the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reject the argument that laws regulating abortion drugs are preempted by federal law.
December 02, 2024
Walgreens Lidocaine Labeling Putative Class Suit Voluntarily Dismissed

CHICAGO — A putative class complaint by consumers who accused Walgreen Co., doing business as Walgreens, of misleading labeling on certain lidocaine products was dismissed with prejudice by a federal judge in Illinois after the lead plaintiff filed a voluntary stipulation of dismissal.
December 02, 2024
Woman Sues Pfizer, Others, Says Depo-Provera Caused Development Of Brain Tumor

LOS ANGELES — A woman alleges in a complaint filed in a California federal court that her use of Depo-Provera, a long-lasting injectable contraceptive, caused her to develop two intracranial meningiomas, a type of brain tumor, causing significant injury.
December 02, 2024
Magistrate Judge Recommends Partial Dismissal In Defective Medical Device Case

MIAMI — A federal magistrate judge in Florida recommended that a medical device product liability suit be partially dismissed but that a woman who alleges that the device broke after being implanted be granted “one final opportunity to amend the claims by way of a Third Amended Complaint.”
November 27, 2024
Federal Judge Tosses Defective Ankle Replacement Device Case As Preempted

TULSA, Okla. — An Oklahoma federal judge granted an artificial ankle prosthetic device manufacturer’s motion to dismiss a case alleging that a defect in the device caused injuries after finding that the claims are preempted.
November 20, 2024
Federal Circuit Vacates Attorney Fees Denial In Failed Vaccine Act Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A special master abused his discretion when he ruled in a National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (Vaccine Act) case that a special master’s decision in Boatmon v. Sec’y of Health & Hum. Servs. regarding a pathologist’s model linking vaccines and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) did not support a finding of reasonable basis, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opined, vacating the denial of an attorney fees request by a father who sued following his son’s death and later voluntarily dismissed his claim when the model was found to be “unreliable.”
November 20, 2024
Texas, Kroger Reach $83 Million Deal In Opioid Settlement

AUSTIN — Kroger Co. has agreed to an $83 million settlement with Texas to settle allegation that the company failed to monitor suspicious opioid orders and contributed to the opioid addiction epidemic, according to a settlement agreement.
November 18, 2024
Parties Settle Injury Case Before Michigan High Court Answers Certified Questions

DETROIT — Parties disputing whether a woman was injured by a defective limb-lengthening device in a case in which a Michigan federal judge certified to the state Supreme Court a series of questions for clarification on how the learned intermediary doctrine applies to product liability cases filed notice on Nov. 15 that they have reached a settlement.
November 15, 2024
Judge: Untimely Service In Taxotere Eye Injury MDL Doesn’t Warrant Dismissal

NEW ORLEANS — The judge overseeing multidistrict litigation for cases alleging that a chemotherapy drug caused eye injuries on Nov. 14 denied a motion filed by a drug manufacturer to dismiss three cases for failure to timely serve a complaint.
November 15, 2024
W.Va. High Court Affirms Anti-Suit Injunction Order In Opioid Coverage Dispute

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Almost three years to the day that the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals remanded an opioid epidemic coverage dispute for a lower court to consider the breadth of its anti-injunction order, the high court on Nov. 14 affirmed the lower court’s grant of a pharmaceutical distributor’s motion to enjoin insurers sued in West Virginia from pursuing parallel litigation against it in California after finding that, contrary to the lower court’s previous ruling, this order is not overly broad.
November 15, 2024
Co-Mediators Say Work Is Progressing In Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Case

NEW YORK — Co-mediators who were appointed in Purdue Pharma LP’s bankruptcy case, which is back in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Bankruptcy Code does not allow a liability release for members of the family in a multibillion-dollar opioid bankruptcy settlement, told the court that the parties have reached agreements in principle, including an agreement on the total amount of cash to be provided for the settlement.
November 14, 2024
Mass Tort Cases For Drugs, Medical Devices

New developments in the following mass tort drug and device cases are marked in boldface type.
November 14, 2024
Baltimore Jury Awards City $266 Million In Opioid Case Against Drug Makers

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore City, Md., Circuit Court jury found two drug manufacturers liable for public nuisance for their role in causing an opioid epidemic in Baltimore and awarded the city more than $266 million.