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August 20, 2026
New developments in the following mass tort drug and device cases are marked in boldface type.
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August 20, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a district court erred in part in rejecting Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s challenge to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of labeling for generic tasimelteon and directed the court to remand the matter to the agency without vacating the approval.
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August 20, 2026
DENVER — Women who allege that a company made false and misleading representations to consumers about its preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) have failed to show that the “extraordinary remedy” of reconsideration under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e) is warranted, the company tells a Colorado federal court.
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August 20, 2026
JACKSON, Miss. — Pharmacy benefit managers accused by Mississippi of contributing to the state’s opioid epidemic have asked a federal judge to certify for interlocutory appeal a June ruling allowing the state’s public nuisance claim to proceed, saying the case presents an unsettled question of Mississippi law on which courts elsewhere are divided.
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August 19, 2026
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge dismissed without leave to amend a man’s lawsuit alleging that the prescription drug Rezurock caused severe dermatologic injuries, finding his claims untimely and that the majority of his claims are preempted by federal law.
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August 19, 2026
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Novo Nordisk Inc. has failed to identify any controlling law or overlooked facts warranting reconsideration of a ruling denying it summary judgment in an insulin pen product liability action, Griffin Health Services Corp. tells a Connecticut federal court in an objection to a motion for reconsideration, contending that the manufacturer is now seeking “a third opportunity to present a summary judgment argument.”
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August 18, 2026
WATERBURY, Conn. — The Connecticut state judge overseeing consolidated cases alleging that a defective birth control device caused injuries has ruled that federal law preempts design defect claims but does not preempt claims that the company failed to report adverse events to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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August 14, 2026
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Consumers who sued Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. alleging that benzoyl peroxide (BPO) acne products contained or could degrade into benzene should be allowed to proceed with most of their claims, according to findings and recommendations issued Aug. 13 by a California federal magistrate judge, although he said the named plaintiffs lack standing to sue over products they did not purchase and that a “Walgreens Pharmacist Recommended” label is nonactionable puffery.
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August 13, 2026
TACOMA, Wash. — A wrongful death complaint alleging that a defect in an insulin pump caused a man to die from diabetic ketoacidosis should be dismissed with prejudice because the plaintiff fails to “thread the narrow gap between express and implied preemption and plead facts plausibly establishing a federal violation with a ‘parallel’ state-law claim,” the pump manufacturer argues in a motion to dismiss filed in a Washington federal court.
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August 12, 2026
PHOENIX — A cardiac electrophysiologist may testify for the manufacturers of implanted port catheter (IPC) devices that a woman’s post-embolization arrhythmia was a continuation of her preexisting condition and was not caused by a fractured port catheter, the Arizona federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation ruled, denying a motion to exclude filed by a woman whose bellwether trial is set to begin later this month.
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August 12, 2026
BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge granted a motion to dismiss filed by six women who sought voluntary dismissal of their claims that an implanted radiographic marker used to mark soft tissue sites during cancer treatment was defective and caused injuries; the women told the court that a settlement has been reached.
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August 12, 2026
BALTIMORE — A woman who received compensation through Purdue Pharma LP's nationwide opioid settlement filed a putative class action in a Maryland federal court accusing the law firm that represented her of improperly withholding excessive amounts for medical liens in violation of the settlement agreement.
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August 12, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Abbott Laboratories urges the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) to reject a renewed effort by individuals who allege that they were injured by defective spinal cord stimulators (SCS) to centralize all pending cases against the manufacturer, arguing that the cases involve different devices, injuries and representations and lack common factual questions warranting an MDL; the panel previously created an MDL that included only cases against Boston Scientific Corp.
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August 12, 2026
SEATTLE — A woman filed a putative nationwide class action complaint in a Washington federal court against a drugmaker, seeking to represent a class of consumers who purchased a generic drug used to treat high blood pressure and other heart-related disorders that was allegedly unsafe and not therapeutically equivalent to the brand name drug.
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August 11, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nevro LLC and Globus Medical Inc. tell the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) that plaintiffs alleging injuries from Nevro spinal cord stimulators have failed to justify creating a separate multidistrict litigation, arguing in their opposition to a motion for transfer that centralization would delay rather than streamline the cases.
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August 06, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — A divided California Supreme Court reversed a lower court and directed entry of summary judgment for Gilead Sciences Inc., rejecting claims that a duty of care is owed to consumers who allege that they suffered injuries to their kidneys, bones and teeth while the company withheld a safer alternative to a concededly nondefective drug used in the treatment of HIV.
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August 06, 2026
HOUSTON — A nationwide pharmacy that dispenses compounded tirzepatide products failed to convince a Texas federal judge that compounded pharmaceuticals are not “new drugs” under the state laws at issue in an unfair competition suit filed by Eli Lilly and Co.; the judge denied Revive RX LLC’s motion for judgment on the pleadings.
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August 06, 2026
New developments in the following mass tort drug and device cases are marked in boldface type.
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August 06, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will hear oral argument in October in a case disputing whether certain North Carolina restrictions on mifepristone, one of the two drugs prescribed for medication abortions, are preempted by federal law; the court held the appeal in abeyance in December 2024 pending a decision in related case, GenBioPro, Inc. v. Kristina Raynes, et al.
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August 06, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a former employee’s False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation suit against the medical device company that terminated his employment, finding that the operative complaint failed to allege that the former employee held the belief that the employer submitted or would submit fraudulent claims to the government for payment.
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August 05, 2026
BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal jury on Aug. 4 awarded a man and his wife $88 million in the first bellwether case from the multidistrict litigation involving Covidien hernia mesh to go to trial, finding that the manufacturer failed to warn him about the danger of the mesh and made false statements about its safety.
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August 05, 2026
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Eligibility requirements and other details of a recently announced master settlement agreement (MSA) in the Depo-Provera multidistrict litigation will be explained at a town hall for plaintiffs who allege that the long-lasting injectable contraceptive caused women to develop intracranial meningiomas, a type of brain tumor, the judge overseeing the MDL said in a case management order.
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August 04, 2026
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge ruled that Novo Nordisk A/S and Novo Nordisk Inc. failed to plausibly allege that a company falsely advertised compounded semaglutide products as equivalent to Novo Nordisk’s FDA-approved medications, granting a motion to dismiss the Lanham Act claims but allowing leave to amend the complaint.
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August 04, 2026
NEW YORK — Law firms that routinely accept leadership responsibilities in multidistrict litigations filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Keller Postman LLC and Ashley C. Keller, telling the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that it should reverse sanctions leveled against the firm and its senior partner, who serves as plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel in the acetaminophen autism spectrum disorder-attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ASD-ADHD) multidistrict litigation, for failing to comply with a protective order.
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August 03, 2026
CINCINNATI — A man’s appeal from a lower court’s decision that held that claims involving an allegedly defective implantable medical device for his heart are preempted by federal law has been dismissed pursuant to the parties' stipulation, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said.