In the Spotlight
$670 Million Settlement vs. Bellwether Victory: Two Very Different Paths in the NEC Formula Litigation
Abbott Laboratories agreed to a $670 million settlement in August 2026 to resolve roughly 2,000 infant formula claims linked to necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a severe intestinal disease in premature infants. Just days later, Mead Johnson took the opposite path - a federal jury in Illinois cleared it of all liability in Inman v. Mead Johnson. Two competing manufacturers, two opposite outcomes, and a clear lesson in how causation evidence and litigation strategy shape mass tort results.
Read the full story →Mass Tort MDL Watch
Law & Order
Opioid MDL Amendment Fight: Rule 15/16 Showdown at the Sixth Circuit
In the National Prescription Opiate Litigation, Judge Polster allowed roughly 800 plaintiffs to amend their complaints and add pharmacy benefit managers OptumRx and Express Scripts as defendants years after the deadline. The PBMs petitioned the Sixth Circuit for mandamus relief, arguing the court failed to evaluate each amendment individually under Rule 16's “good cause” standard - the same MDL-wide shortcut this circuit already rejected back in 2020.
Read the full analysis →The Deep Dive
Bard PowerPort: $40 Million Verdict Puts Design Defect at the Center of the MDL
A federal jury in the District of Arizona awarded $40 million in compensatory damages in the second bellwether trial of MDL No. 3081 - the first plaintiff win on the PowerPort's design-defect theory. The jury in Divelbliss v. Bard found the catheter's design defective and its warnings inadequate, with evidence showing an alternative material would have cost the company just 47 cents more per device. Both sides now have real data on how juries weigh the core liability theory as thousands of remaining cases move through the docket.
Read the full article →The Tech Brief
The Drone Overhead Might Be Working for You — or Against You
Commercial drones are reshaping PI litigation, capturing aerial evidence - collision scenes, construction sites, sight lines, debris fields - before it disappears. But the same technology cuts both ways, as Manley v. Municipality of Anchorage shows, where six months of drone surveillance was turned against the plaintiff. Whether the footage helps or hurts your case comes down to FAA compliance, proper authentication under Rule 901, and a chain of custody solid enough to survive a Daubert challenge.
Read the full article →Mark Your Calendars
The Paralegal Docket
The ABA Rules Every PI Paralegal Should Know — and the Line They Cannot Cross
ABA Model Rules let attorneys delegate substantial casework to paralegals - but not everything. Paralegals cannot establish the attorney-client relationship, set fees, or give a legal opinion to the client. That line gets crossed more often than firms realize: advising a client on a settlement offer, applying comparative-fault law to their specific facts, or valuing a claim are all legal judgments that belong with the attorney - or, on settlement, the informed client alone.
Read the full guide →From the DNC Desk
A demand letter is only as strong as the records behind it. Incomplete chronologies, missed treatment gaps, and unreviewed billing records do not just slow down a case - they lower the number on the other side's offer. At Draft n Craft, our paralegals review every page. Not summaries. Not shortcuts. Every page - because the detail that changes a settlement is almost never the obvious one. Since 2008, we have supported over 450 law firms with medical record review, chronology building, demand drafting, and discovery support. HIPAA-compliant, platform-integrated, and built exclusively for PI practice.
Don't let bandwidth be the reason good cases get bad outcomes.
