Law360 is reporting (registration required) that the New Jersey Appellate Division has rejected Hoffman-La Roche’s attempt to recuse Judge Carol Higbee from her role presiding over the centralized multicounty litigation involving Accutane.   We previously discussed Roche’s efforts here, here, here, and here.

According to the Law360 article, Roche intends to continue down this path and challenge the Appellate Division’s refusal to review its application.  Given New Jersey’s strong and well-established centralized multicounty litigation program, it is doubtless that many practitioners in this area — as well as their clients — will continue to monitor this ongoing situation.