The Ohio federal judge overseeing the massive multidistrict litigation over allegedly reckless opioid sales on Monday tapped five attorneys representing retail chain pharmacies to serve on a separate negotiating team to work on settlement talks.
Lead class attorneys led by Seeger Weiss LLP and Anapol Weiss are set to collect at least $107 million in fees from the potentially billion-dollar National Football League concussion litigation after a court ruling last week, raising concerns over the continued administration of the settlement amid complaints that the claims process has become too complicated.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday slapped an unusual limitation on Bayer AG’s sales of the birth control device Essure, saying the product can only be used if individual patients are directly informed of potentially serious side effects.
Whole Foods Market Inc. urged a California federal court Friday to toss a proposed class action over the grocery chain's “hypoallergenic” products, saying the statements on the two products actually purchased in California were not misleading and that the court lacks jurisdiction over most of the allegations anyway.
A Georgia judge declared a mistrial Friday in a wrongful-death case against Ford Motor Co. after the sons of a couple killed in the rollover crash of an F-250 pickup truck said a Ford witness violated a court order by testifying as to the cause of death.
Two Democratic senators called on President Donald Trump on Monday to detail what progress his administration has made to carry out proposals made by a special White House commission to fight the opioid crisis, citing concerns that the administration isn’t doing enough to counter the epidemic.
Mercedes-Benz is the latest carmaker to face class claims of shattering sunroofs, after a California driver filed suit Friday in state court saying that the company knows of the problem but hasn’t seen fit to warn drivers.
The Ninth Circuit partially revived a proposed class action brought by consumers alleging PharmaCare US Inc. deceptively advertised its IntenseX sexual supplement, citing the company’s alleged failure to get U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to market it as an aphrodisiac.
A second trial over internal bleeding allegedly linked to the anticoagulant Xarelto kicked off in Philadelphia on Friday as jurors heard arguments that a pair of Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson units failed to warn doctors about the risk the medication posed when used in combination with other drugs.
This round of Health Hires features attorneys with health care and life sciences focuses who recently joined Dentons, Green Griffith & Borg-Breen LLP, Greenberg Traurig LLP, Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP and Tucker Ellis LLP.
Mars Wrigley Confectionery US LLC overstates the amount and quality of protein in its Snickers Protein Bars, says a proposed class action filed Thursday in Illinois state court.
Major drug distributors and retail pharmacies on Thursday further pressed an Oklahoma federal judge to pause a suit from the Cherokee Nation filed against them over their alleged role in the opioid epidemic, saying that a decision is pending over whether the case should join ongoing multidistrict litigation in Ohio.
President Donald Trump said late Thursday that he plans to nominate Heidi R. King as administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agency that enforces passenger vehicle safety standards and whose core mission is keeping people safe on America’s roadways.
Wilson Sporting Goods Co. has agreed to settle a proposed class action alleging the sports retailer falsely advertised that its youth baseball bats were eligible for use in a number of leagues even though they didn’t meet the leagues’ standards, according to a filing in Illinois federal court Thursday.
A split Eighth Circuit erased a $13 million punitive damages award Thursday for a woman who said that a Missouri ball bearing maker's factory pollution gave her a serious autoimmune disorder, saying its parent, Schaeffler Group, shouldn't have been included in the trial and the latter's presence had muddied the proceedings.
A company that manufactures metal cylinders for containing a type of propane used for handheld blowtorches was hit with a liability suit in Illinois federal court Wednesday, alleging that it negligently made the cylinders with too-thin metal, causing gas to leak and start a “flash fire” that seriously injured two men.
Blue Bell Creameries on Thursday moved to toss an investor suit seeking damages in the wake of a deadly 2015 Listeria outbreak, telling a Delaware Chancery Court that its business structure relies on specific contract terms, rather than corporate fiduciary standards, and the investors haven't proved the company violated the contracts.
A Maryland dairy company on Thursday hit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with a First Amendment suit in Pennsylvania federal court challenging the agency’s requirement that skim milk sold across state lines be labeled “imitation” if it doesn’t have added vitamins.
A Harvard assistant professor and gynecological surgeon told a New Jersey jury Thursday that a woman suing C.R. Bard over allegedly defective pelvic mesh implants cannot blame the products for her post-procedure complaints, saying the woman’s preexisting conditions and later surgeries are the true culprits.
The Pennsylvania federal judge overseeing the National Football League concussion settlement on Thursday granted the lead class counsel’s bid for nearly $107 million in attorneys’ fees and capped fees for individual attorneys at 22 percent, praising the work of class attorneys despite allegations the deal is failing many former players.
There's no reason for limiting unbundled legal services to family law or even pro se litigants. Wider adoption, especially by litigators, presents an opportunity to correct law's distribution and pricing problem, to make justice practically available to all, and to dethrone litigation as the "sport of kings," says New York-based trial lawyer David Wallace.
Recent cases demonstrate that, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Escobar, False Claims Act materiality questions remain and continue to be litigated. Gilead filed a petition for certiorari a few months ago, and it is a key case to watch, say attorneys with Morrison & Foerster LLP.
The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently ruled that the Fair Share Act applies to asbestos litigation, meaning that defendants are only responsible for the percentage they are found liable for. Defendants in such cases should ensure that all possibly liable defendants are timely joined as parties in the lawsuit, says Theresa Mullineaux of Husch Blackwell LLP.
Like medical professionals, lawyers often resist policies to reduce errors due to the culture of perfectionism that permeates the industry. Autonomy is key to the legal professional's prestige and the outward demonstration of competence is key to maintaining autonomy, says Peter Norman of Winnieware LLC.
Many bad drug and device law decisions lately have come from appellate courts, with the Eleventh Circuit in particular creating obstacle courses for both defense practitioners and judges. This month's Rowe v. Mentor Worldwide LLC ruling is an example. All the claims would have been dismissed if not for a pesky, unsound and inconsistent Eleventh Circuit case, says Stephen McConnell of Reed Smith LLP.
Opinion
It is undisputed that in his first year in office President Trump was able to confirm a significant number of judges to the federal bench. How it happened — and whether it's a good thing — are debated here by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
The recent Third Circuit opinion in Shuker v. Smith & Nephew got the most important issue right — when you have a multicomponent medical device, premarket approval preemption is to be addressed on a component-by-component basis. This is an important question, because surgeons engaging in off-label use do mix and match parts with different regulatory backgrounds, says Michelle Yeary of Dechert LLP.
The U.S. Supreme Court may soon revisit a seminal decision on products liability law for pharmaceutical manufacturers. If the court grants Merck & Co.'s request for certiorari in Fosamax, it could signal that lower courts, as well as branded manufacturers, will finally receive guidance on Levine’s "clear evidence" standard, say attorneys with Morrison & Foerster LLP.
Following recent developments in litigation over a dietary supplement between ChromaDex and Elysium Health, several points are worth noting, one of which includes whether this is the time for a voluntary, higher-level collaboration between the dietary supplement industry and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, say attorneys with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC.
Regulating cannabis raises California Environmental Quality Act review obligations of unprecedented scale. Focusing primarily on commercial cannabis cultivation, Tyler Welti of Venable LLP looks at some emerging CEQA risks facing both cannabis businesses seeking permits and public agencies seeking to permit or ban commercial cannabis.