7th Circuit Affirms Judgment Dismissing 1st Bellwether Case In Baby Formula MDL
CHICAGO — A woman who alleges that her infant daughter developed necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) after consuming cow’s milk-based-infant formula (CMBF) manufactured by Abbott Laboratories Inc. before passing away did not show that an alternative warning label would have prevented her child’s death, the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in affirming a grant of summary judgment for the manufacturer in the first bellwether case in multidistrict litigation pending in Illinois.
Stay Extended In Potomac River Raw Sewage CWA Suit Amid Settlement Negotiations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge granted a joint motion on July 28 filed by the United States and the public utility that owns and operates a sanitary sewer pipeline that collapsed and reportedly discharged millions of gallons of raw, untreated sewage into the Potomac River to extend a stay of a lawsuit filed over the pipeline collapse pursuant to the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program as the parties continue engaging in “productive settlement negotiations.”
N.C. Judge: CGL Insurers Owe No Coverage For Global Settlement Of Opioid Suit
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A North Carolina judge held that commercial general liability insurers have no duty to compensate Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc. and Harris Teeter LLC for their alleged share of liability under a global settlement agreement resolving hundreds of lawsuits seeking damages allegedly caused by the distribution and dispensing of opioid drugs by The Kroger Co. and its affiliates and subsidiaries, concluding that Harris Teeter is not “legally obligated to pay” any of the damages under the settlement and, therefore, no coverage is owed.
Judge: Warnings Expert May Testify In Insulin Pen Suit Against Novo Nordisk
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Connecticut federal judge ruled that Novo Nordisk Inc. failed to show that testimony from a warnings expert retained by a hospital system that was sued in a class action brought by patients who may have been exposed to blood-borne illnesses was inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
D.C. Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of COVID App Maker Antitrust Dispute With Apple
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of an antitrust dispute with Apple Inc. over Apple’s alleged rejection of an app maker’s revamped app to reflect COVID “hot spots,” finding that the proffered complaint fails to “plausibly allege a relevant product market” under the Sherman Act.
Jury Should Have Found Fiber Patent Anticipated, Federal Circuit Finds
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A technology company was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) in its favor in a dispute over a patent describing a biodegradable fiber implant, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in a July 27 opinion, reversing a Delaware federal jury’s findings in favor of the patent holder because a prior art patent disclosed every asserted claim of the patent at issue.
California High Court: Absence Of Coverage Exhaustion Is Not Fatal To Claims
SAN FRANCISCO —An insured may state viable declaratory relief claims under excess liability insurance policies even if all of the underlying coverage has not yet been exhausted, the California Supreme Court held on July 27, reversing an appellate court’s ruling in favor of two excess insurers in a private equity management firm insured’s declaratory relief and bad faith lawsuit and remanding the professional liability coverage dispute to the appellate court.
Dismissal Of ERISA Pension Risk Transfer Case Deepens Standing Split
PITTSBURGH — Deepening the conflicting case law in a series of putative class actions challenging pension risk transfers (PRTs) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a Pennsylvania federal judge on July 27 dismissed one such case for lack of standing, saying in part that the retirees “haven’t plausibly alleged that there is a significant likelihood Athene would default to a degree that their pensions would be affected.”
Contempt Show-Cause Request Denied In Unaccompanied Alien Minors’ Class Suit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia on July 27 denied a request by unaccompanied alien children from Guatemala to order the secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and others to show cause why they should not be held in civil contempt for allegedly violating a preliminary injunction that halted the removal of the minors from the United States.
J&J Announces Possible Resolution Of Ovarian Cancer Talc MDL
TRENTON, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson on July 27 announced an agreement in which the company would pay $5.5 billion to resolve the multidistrict ovarian cancer talc litigation and related state proceedings, saying in a press release that the agreement covers some 76,000 claims.
Va. Federal Judge Finds 2023 Mifepristone REMS Decision Arbitrary, Remands To FDA
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A Virginia federal judge held that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it instituted a 2023 risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) decision that removed the in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion drug mifepristone but added certain pharmacy certifications and other requirements, remanding the decision to the agency for further review.