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September 25, 2026
LOS ANGELES — A woman seeking to represent nationwide and California classes of purchasers on Sept. 24 amended her complaint against Veracity Wellness Inc. that alleges that the company deceptively markets its Metabolism Ignite dietary supplement as “Nature’s Ozempic” and as a natural alternative to prescription weight-loss drugs, asserting claims for violation of California’s unfair competition law and other laws.
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September 25, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — A trustee for a bankruptcy trust on Sept. 24 filed a notice of appeal of a Pennsylvania federal judge’s grant of excess insurers’ motion for summary judgment on bellwether insurance coverage issues as applied to a bankrupt pharmaceutical company insured’s liability for injury claims related to transvaginal surgical mesh products.
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September 25, 2026
CLEVELAND — The Ohio federal judge overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation appointed a managing partner of Motley Rice LLC as co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs following the death of Joseph F. Rice, the co-founder of the firm.
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September 24, 2026
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia federal judge dismissed failure-to-warn claims and portions of a negligence claim based on a failure to warn against the manufacturer and distributor of an injectable corticosteroid that a woman alleges was contaminated and caused an infection leading to the amputation of a toe and the need to implant a spinal cord stimulator; the judge also dismissed her negligence per se claim but allowed her manufacturing defect, remaining negligence and warranty claims to proceed.
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September 24, 2026
BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge refused to stay a product liability suit alleging injuries from an allegedly defective spinal cord stimulation (SCS) device, finding that the plaintiff failed to show cause for pausing the 16-month-old case while the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) considers a motion to centralize related cases against Nevro LLC and Globus Medical Inc.
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September 21, 2026
CINCINNATI — The Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee (PEC) in the national opioid multidistrict litigation urged the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny “yet another in a series of meritless mandamus petitions” filed by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) challenging a judge’s decision allowing hundreds of plaintiffs to amend their complaints to add claims against the PBMs.
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September 17, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — A woman who claims that she woke up with partial blindness in her right eye the day after taking her first 1-milligram dose of Wegovy, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) medication, sued the drug manufacturer directly in the multidistrict litigation pending in a Pennsylvania federal court.
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September 17, 2026
TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington federal judge granted a stipulated motion for voluntary dismissal and ordered that a wrongful death complaint alleging that a defect in an insulin pump caused a man to die from diabetic ketoacidosis be dismissed with prejudice (Roy McNairy, et al. v. Medtronic Inc., et al., No. 26-5700, W.D. Wash.)
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September 17, 2026
New developments in the following mass tort drug and device cases are marked in boldface type.
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September 17, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — Pfizer Inc. and Global Blood Therapeutics have agreed to fund up to $750,000 in reimbursements for certain out-of-pocket purchases of the sickle cell disease drug Oxbryta to settle a proposed class action alleging that consumers would not have bought the medication had they known that it was ineffective, according to an unopposed motion for preliminary approval filed in a California federal court.
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September 17, 2026
PHOENIX — An interventional radiologist who “has implanted and removed thousands of ports from numerous manufacturers” can properly use his experience as the basis of his expert opinion on port safety and efficacy, the Arizona federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation involving C.R. Bard Inc.’s implanted port catheter (IPC) device ruled in denying in part a motion to exclude filed by the plaintiffs.
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September 16, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge rejected a manufacturer’s argument that federal law preempts claims that its product, used in skin resurfacing and body contouring procedures, caused a woman severe burns and scarring but dismissed the claims with leave to amend because the woman failed to sufficiently allege a product defect.
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September 15, 2026
PHOENIX — An Arizona federal court jury returned a $40 million verdict for a woman who alleged that a C.R. Bard Inc. implanted port catheter (IPC) device fractured and left a piece dislodged in her heart in the second bellwether case in the multidistrict litigation to reach trial.
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September 15, 2026
BOSTON — The federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation involving Covidien hernia mesh has set a January 2027 trial date for the second bellwether trial in a case in which a woman alleges that a defect in the hernia mesh caused the premature resorption of the collagen coating meant to protect against adhesions and resulted in permanent injuries.
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September 15, 2026
PHILADELPHIA — Endoscope manufacturers removed to a Pennsylvania federal court a complaint filed by a man who alleges that the device’s defective design made it difficult to sterilize the endoscope that was used during his wife’s outpatient procedure and caused her to become sick and die from septic shock and multisystem organ failure.
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September 14, 2026
NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel “effectively nullified the 2023 amendments” to Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and improperly substituted its judgment for that of a federal trial judge when it revived expert testimony linking prenatal acetaminophen exposure to autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the manufacturer of Tylenol and retailers argue in seeking rehearing and/or rehearing en banc.
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September 11, 2026
SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge applied Wyoming law and dismissed as federally preempted negligence and strict products liability claims brought against the manufacturer of a glucose monitoring system by the parents of a diabetic patient who died after allegedly becoming hypoglycemic while driving when his continuous glucose monitoring system failed to provide an adequate warning.
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September 10, 2026
BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge on Sept. 9 approved a stipulation of dismissal filed by a woman who received compensation through Purdue Pharma LP's nationwide opioid settlement and alleged that the law firm that represented her improperly withheld excessive amounts for medical liens in violation of the settlement agreement.
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September 10, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — Eli Lilly and Co. may proceed with a civil conspiracy theory against a pharmacy involved in providing compounded tirzepatide based on alleged violations of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) but cannot proceed with claims that the pharmacy and telehealth providers conspired to violate the Lanham Act, a California federal judge ruled in partially granting the defendants’ motion to dismiss.
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September 09, 2026
DALLAS — Family members who claim that a defective heart device caused a man’s death have 28 days to amend their complaint after a federal judge in Texas found that their claims are preempted by federal law and granted a motion to dismiss filed by the manufacturers.
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September 09, 2026
SILVER SPRING, Md. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a Class I recall of Boston Scientific Inc.’s unused Infinion CX spinal cord stimulator leads after reports of lead fractures and more than 1,000 serious injuries.
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September 08, 2026
DALLAS — A Texas federal judge held that a man who alleges that metal-on-metal hip implants caused metallosis can pursue product liability claims that otherwise would be barred by Texas’ 15-year statute of repose, finding that the alleged condition could fall within the statute’s latent disease exception and denying the hip implant manufacturers’ motion for judgment on the pleadings.
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September 08, 2026
NEW YORK — New York municipalities suing pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) over their alleged role in the opioid epidemic cannot prevent federal officer removal by disclaiming claims arising from the PBMs’ work for federal clients, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in a case presenting an issue of first impression, reversing orders by district courts to remand the cases to state court.
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September 03, 2026
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Granting a trade association’s motion for a preliminary injunction, an Illinois federal judge enjoined the Illinois Department of Insurance from enforcing a state law’s reporting requirements against the association’s members that are pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) serving health plans sponsored by employers and unions that are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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September 03, 2026
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The federal judge in Arkansas overseeing the multidistrict litigation alleging that a synthetic cartilage implant device used to treat arthritis in a toe joint was defective appointed counsel to leadership positions following an initial management conference.