On January 29, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned a decision that would have allowed plaintiffs to impose burdensome and costly discovery on medical-device makers for unspecified wrongdoing. The case arose from a lawsuit over Genzyme’s Synvisc-One®, an FDA-approved injection that supplements the knee’s own fluids to help lubricate the joint. While the plaintiff vaguely alleges that her Synvisc-One® injection was “defective” and violated unspecified “FDA regulations,” the complaint lacks factual allegations to support either of those claims. As WLF’s amicus brief showed, and the Massachusetts high court ultimately held, the plaintiff’s claims are a textbook example of inadequate pleading and should be dismissed. WLF’s brief was submitted with the pro bono assistance of David Geiger, Michael Hoven, and Stephen Stich at Foley Hoag LLP.
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