About a month ago, the Nevada Supreme Court took a look at the so-called “heeding presumption” – and rejected it outright. Rivera v. Philip Morris, Inc., ___ P.3d ___, 2009 WL 1563373 (Nev. June 4, 2009). Not only that, the decision was unanimous. Obviously, given the caption, Rivera wasn’t a drug or device case (which is why we didn’t jump on it right away). But, like drugs and devices, cigarettes (more…)

A tip of the cyberhat to blog reader Ed Fitzgerald at Gordon & Rees for sending us the latest preemption win in the post-Riegel device world. It’s Bencomo v. Guidant Corp., slip op. (E.D. La. June 30, 2009). The case involves a PMA-approved stent. It’s all about express warranty claims because the plaintiff abandoned everything else in the complaint and chose to hunker down with that single remaining claim.

That (more…)