January 26, 2007

Beck & Herrmann use the recent (and unsurprising) denial of class certification in the Paxil products liability litigation of Blain v. Smithkline Beecham Corp., 2007 WL 178564 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 25, 2007) to note that the American Pipe tolling rule has created some perverse incentives with none of the promised benefits. They also note the procedural-tail-wagging-the-substantive-dog choice-of-law arguments common to plaintiffs in class action litigation.