New Year, New Administration, New Issues?

Much of the nation is watching the transfer of power from the outgoing Trump administration to the incoming Biden administration. Each new administration brings many things, but one constant is change. Obviously, COVID-19 has been the dominant issue for nearly all of 2020, impacting everything, from the drug and medical device industries to our legal system. We expect that while the new Biden administration will continue some of the policies and programs from the Trump administration relating to COVID-19, others will change or be modified,…
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Best Wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving

It would be an understatement to say that 2020 has been a difficult year for most, if not all, of us in the United States. Since March, most of our posts have tried to relate to at least one of the myriad issues raised by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We are by no means alone in that effort, but we hope that we have been able to provide some helpful information and/or promote some useful thinking for many of you. (If we did, feel free…
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A Deep(er) Dive into Allegations Brought Against CBD Companies: Part II

In our last article, we discussed the potential for litigation faced by CBD companies and analyzed a court’s handling of claims regarding fraudulent inducement. Today, we turn to that scary claim of RICO, or the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. For most, this term conjures images of mafia prosecutions. The federal government trying to bring down organized crime with wiretaps and FBI agents raiding social clubs as depicted in various movies. However, the RICO statute is also applied in civil litigation. We will address…
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Ketamine: Another Pandora’s Box or Viable Treatment for Pain?

In the wake of the opioid crisis, some physicians are seeking to utilize ketamine, a highly addictive drug, to treat chronic pain and depression. Ketamine is a generic name for Ketalar (ketamine hydrochloride) and belongs to a class of drugs known as dissociate anesthetics. Ketamine’s FDA label warns of the potential emergence of psychological issues with potentially dangerous drug interactions with barbiturates and narcotics. Ketamine has already proven its high potential for abuse and is well-known as a “recreational drug,” “club drug,,” and “date rape…
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Court Finds That the Plaintiff Lacks Standing in Glyphosate-Related Consumer Class Action Matter

Lawsuits related to glyphosate, including consumer class action claims against food and beverage manufacturers, continue to be filed. In the consumer class action cases, the plaintiffs typically assert that the type of product (e.g., juice, cereals, etc.) had been tested by a laboratory and that trace levels of the pesticide had been detected. In those cases, the plaintiffs are not claiming that they were actually injured by consuming the product. Instead, they are essentially complaining that the product labels are misleading because they do not…
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California Bill Aims to Ban Cosmetics That Includes Certain Ingredients

After banning sales of animal-tested cosmetics, California is now considering a law that bans cosmetic products with ingredients that the State of California determines are “poisonous” or are “deleterious substance[s] that may render it injurious to users when used as directed.” According to proposed Section 111673 of the Health and Safety Code, a cosmetic would be deemed “adulterated” if any of the listed ingredients were “intentionally added” to the cosmetic. The ingredients in the proposed bill include asbestos, lead, dibutyl phthalate, diethylhexyl phthalate, formaldehyde,…
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Hydroponic Operations Fight for Organic Certification Amidst Disapproval from Traditionalists

Hydroponic agriculture is a cutting edge method of growing plants and produce in nutrients which have been dissolved into flowing water. Hydroponic operations have historically fought an uphill battle in their quest to achieve organic certification. In most other developed nations, hydroponic crops cannot be certified as organic, as they are not grown in soil. Between 2001 and 2010, this issue was repeatedly raised to the National Organic Standards Board, which continually held that soil-less systems were inconsistent with organic status, even if they use…
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Litigation is the Pits – Claim Dismissed for Injuries Caused by Natural Food Substance

“A lady bit down on a pit in an olive …” may sound like the opening line to a bad joke, but the defendant she sued for her injuries with the help of an injury lawyer from https://www.braininjurylawyersorangecounty.com/ appears to have had the last laugh. The plaintiff filed a personal injury claim with the help of a personal injury attorney from www.kwdllp.com/workplace-accidents/ against the defendant in California state court for products liability and pursued theories of strict liability, negligence and breach of an express written…
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Word to the Wise: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie … or at Least Lawsuits Based on Them

Since it is a holiday week surrounding Fourth of July we are keeping the content light and irrelevant to our blog topic. But, when a court determines that a dog sleeping in a hallway does not create an unreasonable risk, we can’t resist. In Parella v. Compeau, a panel of the New Jersey Appellate Division tackled the question of whether a “hidden” sleeping dog created a dangerous condition at a Christmas dinner (wine) party hosted at the defendants’ house. The plaintiff alleged the homeowner…
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