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Counterfeit Drugs: A New Source of Product Liability?
Drug counterfeiting robs pharmaceutical manufacturers of their investment in patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade dress. It robs pharmacists and consumers of money, for worthless and sometimes dangerous products. It undermines the integrity of and consumer confidence in the American health care industry and in the government's ability to regulate it. More troubling than all these systemic evils, drug counterfeiting has the potential to allow controllable illnesses to ravage patients unchecked, to spread rather than stop disease, and to injure and kill.
Traditionally, however, manufacturers have at least been insulated from personal injury tort liability when counterfeit drugs cause harm: The counterfeiter alone possesses criminal intent and the manufacturer is remote to the injury. However, recently, under a number of theories, plaintiffs have alleged negligence on the part of pharmaceutical manufacturers for counterfeiting of their products. For example, a current lawsuit in St. Louis alleges that a breast cancer patient took a counterfeit form of Procrit' 20 times less potent than the genuine drug. According to a report in The San Francisco Chronicle, the attorney representing this plaintiff hopes to transform this suit into a class-action lawsuit. In another recently settled case involving the distribution of counterfeit Serostim', the only growth hormone approved by the FDA for the treatment of AIDS wasting, the lawsuit named the drug's manufacturer, along with the pharmacy and drug distributors.
New York's Latest Cybersecurity Commitment
On Aug. 9, 2023, Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced New York's inaugural comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. In sum, the plan aims to update government networks, bolster county-level digital defenses, and regulate critical infrastructure.
Law Firms are Reducing Redundant Real Estate by Bringing Support Services Back to the Office
A trend analysis of the benefits and challenges of bringing back administrative, word processing and billing services to law offices.
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Summary Judgment Denied Defendant in Declaratory Action by Producer of To Kill a Mockingbird Broadway Play Seeking Amateur Theatrical Rights
Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes
“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.