One side effect of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation’s refusal to make the pain pump cases an MDL is that many different courts are ruling on the inadequacy of the pain pump complaints. The Western District of Pennsylvania took its turn last week in Kester v. Zimmer Holdings, Inc., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59869 (W.D. Pa. June 16, 2010). The opinion contains a few useful rulings.

1. It is a commonplace that a defendant (more…)

What follows is a guest post from Dan Cummins, of Foley, Cognetti, Comerford, Cimini & Cummins in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His Tort Talk Blog is rapidly becoming required reading for Pennsylvania tort defense lawyers. Dan participated in the case he discusses as amicus curiae for the Pennsylvania Defense Institute. Dan gets all the credit, and all the blame, for this post.

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here is a link to the Superior Court’s (more…)

Last week we surprised even ourselves by including Judge Weinstein’s December 1 Zyprexa decision as one of top ten best decisions of 2009. That opinion concluded, albeit reluctantly, that Mississippi’s claims could not be adjudicated on a mass basis. Even Judge Weinstein acknowledges that sometimes (we would say more than sometimes) issues of causation, injury, and reliance need to be considered on an individual basis.

In a pair of (more…)