-
May 15, 2026
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge held that commercial general liability insurers have no duty to defend and indemnify against underlying lawsuits seeking to hold grocery store chain Albertsons liable for damages arising from the opioid epidemic, granting the insurers’ motion for summary judgment and denying Albertsons’ partial motion for summary judgment after concluding that there is no coverage owed under settled Delaware law.
-
May 15, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Supreme Court on May 14 left in place nationwide access to mail-order mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, granting a stay of a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision that granted Louisiana’s motion to stay the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision that removed the in-person dispensing requirement for the drug.
-
May 14, 2026
HOUSTON — Eli Lilly & Co. failed to demonstrate how actions by a compounding pharmacy that sells a compounded version of tirzepatide, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for diabetes and weight loss, caused it to lose sales or suffer “irreparable harm to its brand or consumer goodwill,” a Texas federal judge said in granting a motion to dismiss Lanham Act claims against Empower Clinic Services LLC.
-
May 14, 2026
PHOENIX — An Arizona federal jury returned a partial defense verdict in the first bellwether case in the multidistrict litigation involving C.R. Bard Inc.’s implanted port catheter (IPC) device, finding for the defendants on the failure-to-warn claim but unable to reach a verdict on the design defect and unlawful trade practices claims.
-
May 14, 2026
New developments in the following mass tort drug and device cases are marked in boldface type.
-
May 14, 2026
Attorneys general from North Carolina and Maryland announced separate settlement agreements reached with Mylan Inc. to resolve claims that the seller of the EpiPen epinephrine autoinjector (EAI) used anticompetitive tactics to keep generic versions of the EpiPen off the market and artificially increased the cost of its life-saving device
-
May 13, 2026
NEW YORK — Keller Postman LLC and Ashley C. Keller, plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel in the acetaminophen autism spectrum disorder-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ASD-ADHD) multidistrict litigation, have appealed to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a ruling by the MDL judge imposing sanctions on the firm and its senior partner for failing to comply with a protective order in the MDL.
-
May 13, 2026
LOS ANGELES — A manufacturer of insulin pumps that were later recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were aware of issues with the devices and failed to warn consumers, resulting in a series of injuries, a group of type 1 diabetics allege in a complaint filed in a California state court.
-
May 12, 2026
WICHITA FALLS, Texas — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration urged a Texas federal court to stay a case brought by Florida and Texas that challenges the FDA’s approval in 2000 of mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, and stay the agency’s subsequent approvals while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a motion for a stay in a related case challenging the FDA’s 2023 decision that removed the in-person dispensing requirement for the drug.
-
May 12, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. on May 11 extended an administrative stay on a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision that granted Louisiana’s motion to stay the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision that removed the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, as the state, the manufacturers of the drug and amici from both sides of the political spectrum weigh in on what the court should do.
-
May 12, 2026
ATLANTA — Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. and the two bellwether plaintiffs in the Paragard intrauterine device (IUD) multidistrict litigation responded to an invitation from a federal judge to weigh in on her proposed certified question to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for interlocutory appeal, with both sides arguing that the judge’s question is too narrow in the dispute over what information can retroactively apply as newly acquired information under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s changes-being-effected (CBE) regulation.
-
May 11, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS — The judge overseeing the Bair Hugger multidistrict litigation adopted a recommendation from a federal magistrate judge and ordered that six cases brought by plaintiffs who failed to comply with a pretrial order requiring them to fill out plaintiff fact sheets be dismissed with prejudice.
-
May 11, 2026
CHICAGO — Ruling that a former pitching prospect’s claims of negligence and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in requiring that he be vaccinated for COVID-19 and in treating the symptoms that resulted from the vaccination and ultimately ended his career were time-barred, an Illinois federal judge granted without prejudice a motion to dismiss by the Chicago White Sox (CWS) and Major League Baseball.
-
May 08, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The manufacturers of mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, are not entitled to a stay or vacatur of a decision by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that granted Louisiana’s motion to stay the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision that removed the in-person dispensing requirement for the drug because there is not a reasonable probability that the court will grant certiorari, Louisiana tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a May 8 response to the applications for a stay.
-
May 07, 2026
ST. LOUIS — A ruling by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that granted Louisiana’s motion to stay the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision that removed the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy, bolsters arguments by Missouri, Idaho and Kansas that a federal court in Missouri should deny the FDA’s request to stay the case pending in that court and conclude that the states have standing, the states contend in a notice of supplemental authority.
-
May 06, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 5 ordered the dismissal of a case after the manufacturer of a solution used during fertility-related treatments and a couple who claim that the solution was toxic and destroyed a developing embryo told the court that they have reached a settlement.
-
May 05, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Manufacturers of spinal cord stimulators tell the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) that it should reject efforts to centralize all pending cases against Abbott Laboratories and Boston Scientific Corp. brought by individuals who allege that they were injured by defective spinal cord stimulators and deny certain plaintiffs’ efforts to expand the scope of the MDL to include claims against them.
-
May 04, 2026
BOSTON — The federal government filed a notice of appeal to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking review of a Massachusetts federal court’s stay of a January U.S. Department of Health and Human Services memorandum announcing the reduction of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended childhood vaccinations from 17 to 11 and the appointment of 13 new members to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
-
May 04, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. on May 4 administratively stayed a decision by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that granted Louisiana’s motion to stay the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision that removed the in-person dispensing requirement for mifepristone, one of two drugs used to induce early termination of pregnancy.
-
May 04, 2026
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for the manufacturers of a hip implant that a man claimed fractured and caused injuries and refused to certify to the New York Court of Appeals a question of when the statute of limitations in strict products liability claims begins to run.
-
May 01, 2026
NEW YORK — The New York federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the bankruptcy case for Purdue Pharma LP on April 30 signed off on a settlement agreement in which McKinsey & Co. Inc. has agreed to contribute $125 million to a trust to settle any claims that the consulting company helped Purdue contribute to the opioid epidemic through its work devising and implementing opioid sales and marketing strategies.
-
April 30, 2026
New developments in the following mass tort drug and device cases are marked in boldface type.
-
April 30, 2026
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge dismissed with prejudice a second amended complaint after finding that an administrator of an estate of a woman who allegedly died as a result of her insulin pump malfunctioning failed to adequately plead claims for negligent defective design and wrongful death.
-
April 30, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court will consider at its May 14 conference a petition for review of an appeal regarding a final judgment of $193 million for a qui tam relator who sued Eli Lilly & Co. for reporting falsely deflated drug prices to the government in order to profit off of drug rebate programs, according to an April 28 docket entry.
-
April 30, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) will hear oral arguments on May 28 to decide whether to centralize all pending cases against Abbott Laboratories and Boston Scientific Corp. brought by plaintiffs who allege that they were injured by defective spinal cord stimulators.