Civil Law

Shameless Plug: Reed Smith team authors product liability chapter for digital health law guide

As our loyal readers know, the blog has been keeping a close eye on plaintiffs’ efforts to apply product liability law to software . This is of course an area of keen interest to medical device, software, and tech companies active or entering the digital health space.

The blog’s own Eric Alexander, with Reed Smith co-authors Gerry Stegmaier, Jamie Lanphear, and Michael Rubayo, has now written a very thorough chapter on this subject for the International Comparative Legal Guides’ fourth … Read the rest

Civil Law

Consumer Expectations Test Cannot Save Design Defect Claim from Preemption

When we see a court dismiss a pharma product liability case on preemption grounds, we simply have to write about it.  Otherwise, we’d be required to turn in our bar card, our defense hack card, and our friendly neighborhood DDL blogger card.  

In Polson v. AstraZeneca Ltd. Partnership,  2023 WL 2770687 (D.Conn. April 4, 2023), the plaintiff had taken medicine to address constipation caused by opioid pain treatments. She alleged that the anti-constipation medicine caused her to suffer life threatening … Read the rest

Civil Law

Dealing with investor’s veto rights for startups

Any sensible investor would want to minimise their downside risks when making an investment especially in a risky asset class portfolio such as when investing in an early stage startup. The common way on how this may be achieved is by inclusion of veto rights over certain major company actions.

With the exceptions to angels, families and friends, most financial investors (i.e. people that spend their full time daily as an investor) such as corporates and venture capitals will want … Read the rest

Civil Law

Our top 6 Planning Law takeaways for 2022 – Part 5: Retained EU Law Repeal Bill

In the fifth of our blogs on recent developments in planning law , we turn our attention to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022 introduced by Jacob Rees-Mogg at the height of the Truss premiership in September 2022. 

Described by Professor Michael Zander KC as “one of the worst pieces of legislation I can remember in some 60 years of following the law-making process“, the Bill seeks to deliver on the Brexit promise of taking … Read the rest

Civil Law

On icy ground: Kamila Valieva and the challenge of pleading “no fault or negligence” in anti-doping cases

Introduction

On 21 February 2023, the World Anti-Doping Agency (“WADA”) issued a statement confirming that it was appealing the decision of the disciplinary tribunal of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (“RUSADA”) in the case of Kamila Valieva to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”). Although the full decision has not been published, the RUSADA tribunal found that the teenage figure skater bore ‘no fault or negligence’ (“NFON”) in testing positive for a … Read the rest

Civil Law

Are you surprised to learn that the DOD has had more than 12,000 cyber attacks since 2015

BankInfoSecurity.com reported that in a US Senate hearing that “The Government Accountability Office in November reported the DOD had experienced more than 12,000 cyber incidents since 2015, although the annual rate of detected attacks has been declining.” The March 29, 2023 report entitled “Pentagon Doubles Down on Zero Trust” (https://tinyurl.com/yhne56xc) also included these comments from Department of Defense CIO John B. Sherman in testimony before the Senate Armed Forces Committee’s Cybersecurity Subcommittee:

We’ve committed to implementing zero trust across the … Read the rest

Civil Law

Key Updates of Green, Social and Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles

On 23 February 2023, the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association, Loan Market Association and Loan Syndications and Trading Association jointly published updates on the Green, Social and Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles (the “Principles”) together with their supporting guidance documents (the “Guidance”). 

All transactions completed prior to 9 March 2023 will be exempted from following the updated Principles and Guidance, and instead should be reviewed in conjunction with the Principles and Guidance in force at the time of the loan’s origination, extension … Read the rest

Civil Law

One dead in UK Listeria outbreak

Health officials in the United Kingdom are investigating a potential outbreak of Listeria that has killed one person.

Whole genome sequencing of listeriosis samples by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has identified three cases with one death, possibly as part of an outbreak.

Patients are aged 59 or older and are from the south of England or London. One person fell sick in November 2022, while the other two became ill in February 2023.

A similar strain as the … Read the rest