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Mealey's Drugs & Devices

  • 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.

  • November 14, 2024

    Exactech MDL Judge Stays All Proceedings After Bankruptcy Court Filing

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The federal judge overseeing the Exactech orthopedic device multidistrict litigation ordered that the MDL be stayed pending resolution of the company’s bankruptcy petition.

  • November 14, 2024

    6th Circuit Upholds ASR Hip MDL Arbitration Award In Decade-Old Dispute

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s judgment confirming an arbitration award in a long-running contingency fee dispute between an attorney and a former client he represented in a DePuy ASR hip litigation, but in a concurrence, one judge criticized the actions of the attorney, saying his conduct “results in disrespect for the legal profession.”

  • November 13, 2024

    Master Long-Form Complaint Filed in GLP-1 MDL Pending In Pennsylvania Federal Court

    PHILADELPHIA — Counsel for plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation involving diabetes and diet drugs on Nov. 13 filed a master long-form complaint against the drug manufacturers, alleging that they “downplayed the nature, duration, extent and seriousness of gastrointestinal events and failed to warn about other adverse events.”

  • November 13, 2024

    OTC Cold Medicine MDL Judge Dismisses All Cases, Won’t Wait For FDA Amendment

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — The New York federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation stemming from allegations that over-the-counter cough and cold medications containing the active ingredient phenylephrine (PE) are ineffective at relieving nasal congestion dismissed all claims with prejudice on Nov. 12, rejecting a request by the plaintiffs to hold off granting the parties’ proposed order to dismiss all cases in light of a recent recommendation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

  • November 12, 2024

    Acetaminophen Autism/ADHD MDL Reopens In New York After New Cases Filed

    NEW YORK — The acetaminophen autism spectrum disorder-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ASD-ADHD) multidistrict litigation, which was closed Aug. 26, has reopened in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York after six cases were accepted as related to the MDL.

  • November 12, 2024

    Settlement Reached In Post-Surgical Complication Suit In N.C. Federal Court

    STATESVILLE, N.C. — An upcoming trial over allegations that a woman suffered post-surgical complications following spinal surgery that included a FiberCel product has been canceled after the parties told a North Carolina federal court on Nov. 11 that a settlement has been reached.

  • November 11, 2024

    Judge Partly Dismisses Claims Over Woman’s Neuropathy From Zinc Supplements

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge partly granted and partly denied a motion to dismiss a woman’s lawsuit against a supplement maker accusing it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by labeling its zinc supplement as containing a safe daily dose, which the woman alleges was not a safe dose and, after months of daily consumption, caused her to develop permanent peripheral neuropathy.