Morrison Foerster Investigations + White Collar Defense partner Nate Mendell, former Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, hosted the fourth episode of When Your Life Sciences Are on the Line, where leading...more
Immersive technologies are at the forefront of innovation in the consumer technology and life sciences industries, but regulators are struggling to fit these devices, which blend clinical software with commercial headsets,...more
On May 16, 2024, the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) took an unconventional action, unilaterally issuing a recall announcement urging consumers to dispose of CHZHVAN Combination Smoke and Carbon...more
In January of 2023, Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. of the Consumer Product Safety Commissioner (CPSC) ignited a political debate over an unlikely subject: gas stoves. During an interview with Bloomberg on January 9, 2023,...more
On July 25, 2024, Representative Roger Williams, Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business (the “Committee”), informed Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Chairman Alexander Hoehn-Saric that the Committee has...more
In Himes v. Somatics, LLC, No. S273887, 2024 WL 3059637 (Cal. June 20, 2024), the Supreme Court of California delivered a win to the defense, upholding the learned intermediary doctrine in cases involving prescription drugs...more
The California Supreme Court granted review in Gilead Life Sciences v. Superior Court—a hopeful turn of events after lower courts issued decisions that resulted in an unprecedented expansion of negligence liability for...more
6/14/2024
/ CA Supreme Court ,
Gilead Sciences ,
Healthcare ,
HIV ,
Liability ,
Life Sciences ,
Manufacturers ,
Negligence ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Product Defects ,
Summary Judgment
On April 15, 2024, in a big win for the continued validity of implied preemption, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the First Circuit’s preemption-based dismissal of a proposed misbranding class action. The...more
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or the “Commission”) has scheduled a public hearing on May 8, 2024, to hear stakeholders’ views on the Commission’s priorities for fiscal years 2025 and 2026. This annual...more
In this final installment of our series (see part 1, part 2, and part 3) discussing CPSC’s presence at the 2024 International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization’s annual symposium, we present two smaller, but...more
On January 25, 2024, Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the Consumer Advocacy and Protection (CAP) Act, which would amend the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) to increase the maximum civil penalty for a single...more
This third installment of our series highlights regulators and other stakeholders’ growing focus on e-commerce platforms’ role in protecting consumers from unsafe products, as the percentage of online consumer product sales...more
On March 7, 2024, the U.S. Senate confirmed Doug Dziak as a Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), filling the final Commissioner seat that has remained vacant since Commissioner Dana Baiocco’s...more
This second installment of our series highlights CPSC’s Office of Compliance Activity and continued aggressive enforcement efforts. Multiple presenters emphasized CPSC’s continued aggressive enforcement. Commenters...more
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was well represented at the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization’s annual symposium in Orlando, which took place in February. Agency representatives...more
Courts are increasingly being asked: is AI a product or a service? AI companies currently operate within an undefined products liability space. As companies continue to innovate with AI, courts must grapple with complicated...more
On December 20, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its Health Products Compliance Guidance (“Health Products Guidance”). This is the first update in nearly 25 years to FTC’s guidance regarding advertising claims...more
California lawmakers are considering a bill that would limit confidentiality in cases involving allegations of defective products or environmental harms by placing restrictions on protective orders and confidentiality terms...more
5/11/2022
/ California ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Disclosure ,
Early Dispute Resolution ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Product Defects ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Protective Orders ,
Right To Know ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Strict Product Liability
In a recent win for vaccine manufacturers, a district court found that federal law preempted claims against Merck, arising out of alleged injuries from the Gardasil vaccine. Herlth v. Merck & Co., Inc., No. 3:21-cv-438 (JAM),...more
The Tenth Circuit recently held that the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) gets the final word on what “Product of the U.S.A.” means for labels of beef products. Thornton v. Tyson Foods, Inc., No. 20-2124, 2022 WL 727628...more
4/15/2022
/ Cattle ,
Corporate Counsel ,
False Advertising ,
Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Food Labeling ,
Food Marketing ,
Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) ,
Fraud ,
Imports ,
Preemption
More aggressive enforcement actions and increased regulatory activities under the Biden Administration are here. In President Biden’s first weeks, he is making good on his promise to reverse course from the previous...more
The Eastern District of Texas ruled last week that Tyson, a “critical infrastructure” company, properly removed a COVID-19-related case to federal court under the federal officer removal statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1442.[1] In light...more
2/26/2021
/ Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Federal Court Litigation ,
FEMA ,
Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) ,
Goods or Services ,
Motion to Remand ,
Occupational Exposure ,
Occupational Injury ,
Patriot Act ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Tyson Foods ,
Workplace Safety
Navigating FDA’s regulatory enforcement strategies is paramount to successfully marketing health and medical products for COVID‑19—especially since the pandemic has dominated FDA’s enforcement activity this year....more
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Morrison & Foerster’s quarterly newsletter on recent developments in arbitrations, investigations, and commercial and intellectual property litigation that may affect Japanese...more
11/6/2020
/ Arbitration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Electronic Communications ,
FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ,
Japan ,
LCIA ,
Remote Hearings ,
SCC ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Eastern District of Tennessee recently ruled that there is no private right of action under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) for an alleged violation of a voluntary product safety standard. The ruling narrows the...more