Ninth Circuit: FDA Regulations Broadly Preempt Food Labeling Claims by Morrison & Foerster LLP on 5/22/2012 Last week, the Ninth Circuit issued a broad FDA preemption ruling that elbows aside federal deceptive-labeling claims in the latest slugfest between Pom Wonderful and Coca-Cola that has been going on for almost five years....more
Patterson Belknap Secures Major Win For Coca Cola: Ninth Circuit Holds False Advertising Claims Against FDA-Authorized Label Are... by Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP on 5/22/2012 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held last week that The Coca Cola Company cannot be sued under the Lanham Act over the name and labeling of a juice product that is authorized by FDA regulations. In doing so,...more
Recent Case Highlights Split of Authority on Whether Corporate Agreements Can Amend Employee Benefit Plans by McDermott Will & Emery on 5/15/2012 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently held that a paragraph in an asset purchase agreement qualified as an amendment to an employee benefit plan, highlighting a split between circuits of the U.S. Courts of...more
Employee’s Wage Deduction Claim Not Preempted By Federal Law, Court of Appeal Determines by Barger & Wolen on 5/11/2012 In Sciborski v. Pacific Bell Directory, the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division One, determined that an employee’s claims for wage deductions under California Labor Code 221 was not preempted by...more
NJ in Mainstream on Generic Preemption by Dechert LLP on 5/9/2012 We can't say much about it because of Dechert's involvement in the Reglan/metoclopramide litigation, but Judge Higbee has ruled on on generic preemption under Mensing. There are two opinions. The first, In re Reglan...more
A Double Dose of Preemption by Dechert LLP on 5/9/2012 In medical device cases, preemption will hunt you down. In Hinkel v. St. Jude Medical, S.C. Inc., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56322 (E.D. La. April 23, 2012), the plaintiff survived removal and discovery only to be caught by...more
More Thoughts On Bartlett by Dechert LLP on 5/7/2012 Our initial post about Bartlett v. Mutual Pharmaceutical Co., ___ F.3d ___, 2012 WL 1522004 (1st Cir. May 2, 2012), was more or less a crie de coeur over what we saw as an essentially absurd result: that while a simple...more
BLG Monthly Update, May 2012 by Neil Guthrie on 5/4/2012 Crucial commas, greasy chips and electronic contracts -- all this and more in the BLG Monthly Update for May 2012!...more
Bartlett - Take It Up by Dechert LLP on 5/3/2012 The First Circuit decided Bartlett v. v. Mutual Pharmaceutical Co., No. 10-2277, slip op. (1st Cir. May 2, 2012) today - suggesting that it is the worst court of appeals in the country for defendants in prescription...more
Third Circuit Holds FLSA Collective Actions and State Law Class Actions Are Not Inherently Incompatible by Cole Schotz on 5/2/2012 In the recent case of Knepper v. Rite Aid Corp., --- F.3d --- (3d Cir. 2012), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals joined the Second, Seventh, Ninth and D.C. Circuits in holding that Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) collective...more
Van Breda: The Supreme Court of Canada Provides Clarity to Canadian Conflict of Laws Rules by Field Law on 4/30/2012 It is a fact of life in the modern world that manufacturers and distributors of products often do business in multiple jurisdictions, across multiple borders. A product manufactured in one country, can be distributed and sold...more
New York Appellate Court Holds that Federal Law Does Not Preempt State Contract and Consumer Protection Laws in Gift Card Suit by BuckleySandler LLP on 4/30/2012 On April 17, 2012, the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court held that federal laws and regulations do not preempt state contract and consumer protection laws, reversing an earlier trial court decision dismissing a...more
Darvocet Plaintiffs' Hail Mary Batted Away by Dechert LLP on 4/25/2012 We’ve posted before about MDLs – and the Darvocet MDL in particular – being the new “heavyweight” division for the one-two punch of product identification (can’t sue non-manufacturers) and generic preemption (can't sue...more
Receive a Grand Jury Subpoena? What’s a health care provider to do? by Dinsmore & Shohl LLP on 4/24/2012 Health care providers are required to obey a properly issued grand jury subpoena seeking medical records or other confidential patient information, right? After all, it’s a subpoena. The answer may not be as straightforward...more
If At First You Don't Succeed.... by Dechert LLP on 4/24/2012 Sometimes good ideas don’t prevail the first time – or even the first few times – they make their appearance. With that in mind we bring to your attention Windle v. Synthes USA Products, Inc., 2012 U.S. Dist. Lexis 52397...more