The Supreme Court Buys Into Argument that Plaintiffs Should Not Be Permitted to Forum Shop
6/22/17
By: Kristian Smith & Robyn Flegal
The U.S. Supreme Court decided one of the most important mass tort/product liability decisions ever Monday, effectively ending forum shopping or “litigation tourism.” In its 8-1 ruling, the Supreme Court in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. …
Florida Supreme Court Strikes Down Damage Caps in Med Mal Cases
6/9/17
Almost a year to the day after hearing oral argument on the case of North Broward Hospital District v. Kalitan, the Florida Supreme Court finally issued its decision striking caps on noneconomic damages in medical …
Pharmaceutical Company Held Liable for Lawyer’s Suicide
4/27/17
A federal jury in Illinois recently held GlaxoSmithKline liable for the death of a Reed Smith LLP partner, Stewart Dolin. The jury found that the generic version of GSK’s Paxil caused Mr. Dolin to take his …
Ethical Code Does Not Prevent Expert Testimony
4/24/17
By: Shaun Daugherty
In a recent, factually interesting decision by an Illinois Court of Appeal, a defense verdict in a dental malpractice case was overturned for a variety of reasons related primarily to the defendant’s expert’s use of skulls during …
Federal Court Rejects Jane Doe’s Wrongful Conception Claims Too
3/21/17
By: Shaun Daugherty
It made headlines when several families around the county sued Atlanta based sperm bank Xytec Corp. for claims that they were lied to regarding the specific characteristics of a donor that had been responsible for the birth …
How Fine is the Line Between Medical Malpractice and Life in Prison?
2/22/17
By: Shaun Daugherty
It was all over the major news networks and the print media. On Monday, February 21, 2017, a Dallas, Texas jury sentenced Dr. Christopher Duntsch, neurosurgeon, to life in prison for a “botched surgery.” While he was …
9/8/16
By: Michael Bruyere and Amanda Hall
On August 8, 2016, the FDA issued draft guidance on “Deciding When to Submit a 510(k) for a Change to an Existing Device.” Current regulations provide that a manufacturer of a medical device must …
OCR Casts a Wider Net on HIPAA Breaches
8/29/16
By: Agne Krutules
Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), covered entities and their business associates have duties under the Privacy Rule and the Security Rule to protect patient health information. The U.S. Department of Health and Human …
FDA Continues to Fight the First Amendment But Facteau Deals Another Blow
8/18/16
By: Kristian Smith
Last month, a federal jury in Massachusetts acquitted two executives of medical device company Acclarent, Inc. of 14 felony counts of fraud related to off-label promotion of Acclarent’s “Stratus” device. United States v. Facteau, et al. stemmed …
2/25/16
By: Amanda K. Hall
On January 25, 2016, researchers at Harvard University and The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign detailed their creation of “4D-Printed” structures –made by mimicking the way orchids and other plants move and twist – that could ultimately …
Insurance Application Omissions Not Enough to Rescind Policy
1/19/16
By: Kristian Smith
Insurers may need to pay closer attention to insurance applications. A Pennsylvania jury recently ruled that an insurer knew (or should have known) about omissions on an insurance application, preventing the insurer from rescinding the policy.
In …
Drug Distributors May Find Themselves Without a Defense
12/23/15
By: Michael Bruyere and Kristian Smith
Rising prescription drug abuse has put drug distributors under scrutiny in the last few years. Now, pharmaceutical companies are being sued for the economic costs associated with the epidemic, but they may not be …
