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In order to avoid drowning in the sea of mass tort litigation, drug and medical device companies must aggressively and "offensively" defend these actions -- and do so as soon as the mass tort litigation emerges. Critical to stemming the mass tort tide is an understanding of the factors that drive the filing of these actions against pharmaceutical and medical device companies: 1) the ease with which controversial issues relating to drugs and medical devices can be recognized; and 2) complicated causation issues. Armed with that understanding, the single most important pre-trial goal for any defendant must be the early exposure of frivolous claims based on tenuous causation and junk science.
A series of amendments to the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules &sect&sect 2305, 3120, and 3122 took effect on Sept. 1, 2003 and, among other things, eliminated the need for motions and court orders before a party may serve a subpoena <i>duces tecum</i> on a non-party.
Highlights of the latest product liability cases from around the country.
Features
D. Jeffrey Campbell and Julie Smith Stypinski in their article this month direct readers to the Web site for The Federalist Society, <i>www.fed-soc.org,</i> for a transcript of a symposium on gun litigation. The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is a group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the legal order. It was founded on the principles that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to the Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be.
<i>Part One of a Two-Part Series</i> In a technology-driven economy, the threat to trade secret and propriety information is real and visceral. A recent survey estimated that theft of this information resulted in losses of more than $50 billion to the responding companies, which included Fortune 1000 corporations as well as small and midsized businesses, for the year ending June 30, 2001. The American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) and PriceWaterhouse Coopers, <i>Trends in Proprietary Information Loss: Survey Report</i> (Sept. 2002). It is perhaps only natural that this threat should find its way into litigation, particularly product liability litigation. Discovery in these cases typically involves the production of some of the product manufacturer's proprietary and technical information. More recently, however, claimants have sought the manufacturer's trade secrets — highly confidential information at the heart of the company's business. The responding manufacturer objects to this discovery as causing irreparable harm if disclosed, and the battle lines are drawn.
A recent decision highlights the timing and jurisdictional pitfalls that may be faced by the attorney accepting an out-of-state injury case.
Features
Much has been written about the many lawsuits initiated by municipalities against the handgun industry. They are premised on the claim that the gun manufacturers and distributors saturate the market and fail to prevent their retailers from selling to persons who might resell to criminals. <i>See, e.g.,</i> Lawrence S. Greenwald, <i>Municipalities' Suits Against Gun Manufacturers ' Legal Folly,</i> 4 J. Health Care Law & Policy 13 (2000). Plaintiffs typically seek both damages and injunctive relief that would change industry marketing practices. The gun industry has challenged the legal sufficiency of the lawsuits on multiple grounds, with the majority of courts that have considered these issues dismissing the lawsuits. Recent developments, however, suggest that the pendulum may be swinging back in the governmental plaintiffs' favor.
There is good news for law firms and providers of legal services. Since they are exempt from sales tax in all states, they are not subject to collecting and remitting sales tax. However, because of the use tax (which is the other component reflected on the tax return), law firms and legal service providers should still file sales tax returns in their resident states. More and more law firms and other exempt service providers are being audited by the states for sales and use tax. These audits are resulting in firms being assessed thousands of dollars in use taxes, interest, and, in some instances, penalties.
Features
Managing an organization composed of successful lawyers is famously difficult. The very traits that make lawyers successful are found in abundance in law firm partners ' a healthy skepticism, a penchant for debate, and a high degree of self-confidence ' coupled with a sense of ownership in the enterprise and a desire to be informed and consulted about decisions large and small. Firm management's job got even harder in April, with a Supreme Court ruling affirming that partners may have equal employment opportunity rights.
Features
Information Resources (formerly called the Library in most firms) and Marketing/Business Development now must form a union to help the firm's senior management with strategic positioning, competitive analysis and revenue generation through firm strategic intelligence. The time for dotting the "I" in Information and crossing the "t" in Marketing has come. It is no longer enough to obtain information about a client.