December 20, 2006

Give Judge Weinstein Cogan credit: he's taking steps to enforce his protective order in the Zyprexa MDL (Dec. 18; Dec. 19). (Bill Childs post with order; Julie Criswell, "Court Orders Lawyer to Return Documents About an Eli Lilly Drug", NY Times, Dec. 20). The culprit who fed James Gottstein the documents? Dr. David Egilman, which, if he's found to have violated a court order, wouldn't be the first time he's done so (Dec. 9, 2005). Gottstein himself will be under investigation for aiding and abetting a violation, and is under orders to retrieve documents he distributed and preserve his communications with Egilman.

Update: While the Zyprexa MDL is before Weinstein, the injunction was issued by Judge Cogan on an emergency basis because Weinstein was out of town.