Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Updated: Judge Tries to Unring Bell Hanging Around Neck of Horse Already Out of Barn Being Carried on Ship That Has Sailed
(Hi, NYT readers. I've got more about Zyprexa here and post about torts every day.)
"Hey!" says Judge Weinstein Cogan, "Stop distributing documents in contravention of the PTO!" The order:
Download ZyprexaInjunction.pdf.
Of note, the motion for injunction is a joint one, brought by both the PSC and the defendants:
(See my earlier post on not-so-protective protective orders.)
Update: I hadn't seen the NYT piece on it before (h/t PoL). Of note, Gottstein isn't actually a lawyer in the Zyprexa litigation:
The documents, the basis for front-page articles on Sunday and Monday, were provided to a Times reporter and to organizations and individuals interested in mental health issues by James B. Gottstein. Mr. Gottstein, who is not involved in the Lilly lawsuits, is a lawyer representing mentally ill patients. He has sued the State of Alaska, accusing it of forcing patients to take psychiatric medicines against their will.
Gottstein apparently subpoenaed the documents from Egilman, who was, as an expert in the litigation, presumably subject to the PTO.
Gottstein, on his website, is not shy about flagging his involvement in the Zyprexa documents.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/tortsprof/2006/12/judge_tries_to_.html
Comments
I think the first. Gottstein doesn't look like a products guy (and I can't imagine the competition for clients in Alaska can be all that vigorous), though he's clearly no fan of pharma.
Posted by: Bill Childs | Dec 20, 2006 6:59:55 AM
Awesome post title. I laughed outloud upon reading it in the NYTimes article.
Posted by: Faceword | Jan 14, 2007 8:35:17 PM
In his book "Individual Justice in Mass Tort Litigation" Judge Weinstein says:
"[p]rotective orders may have a legitimate role when there is no public impact or when true trade secrets are involved. But we can strike a fairer balance between privacy interests of corporations and the health and safety of the public. A publicly maintained legal system ought not protect those who engage in misconduct, conceal the cause of injury from the victims, or render potential victims vulnerable. Moreover, such secrecy defeats the deterrent function of the justice system."
Posted by: Justing | Jan 15, 2007 2:03:28 AM
You win first prize for the "Block That Metaphor" contest!
Congratulations!!
Posted by: Debra | Jan 15, 2007 2:20:56 PM
The fun part: speculating why the PSC joined the motion. Were they worried that Weinstein was going to blame them? Or is Gottstein competing with them for clients?
Posted by: Ted | Dec 20, 2006 6:33:08 AM