{"id":134092,"date":"2025-09-29T12:25:36","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T20:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/29\/does-tylenol-give-mass-tort-defense-lawyers-a-headache\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T12:25:36","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T20:25:36","slug":"does-tylenol-give-mass-tort-defense-lawyers-a-headache","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/29\/does-tylenol-give-mass-tort-defense-lawyers-a-headache\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Tylenol Give Mass Tort Defense Lawyers A Headache?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
It\u2019s like there\u2019s a worm in my brain, eating away at my sanity. (Image via Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For most of the 20 years that I worked at a law firm, I defended\u00a0pharmaceutical and medical device<\/a>\u00a0(and other) mass torts.<\/p>\n

The things that you do professionally can create a bias:\u00a0I did not like the plaintiffs\u2019 bar.\u00a0I never defended a lawsuit brought on behalf of a single individual, so I saw little of the good that plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers do.\u00a0But I saw many class actions and mass torts that seemed designed only to transfer money from pharmaceutical and medical device companies to plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers.\u00a0Whether a drug or device actually harmed anyone was beside the point; anyone who was actually hurt could file their own individual lawsuit. The class actions and mass torts picked up the stragglers, whose situations didn\u2019t merit filing a case \u2014 people who overpaid for an allegedly dangerous drug (but hadn\u2019t suffered physical injury) and wanted to recover the purchase price; people who hadn\u2019t been hurt yet but might be hurt in the future; people who didn\u2019t even know they had a claim, but the lawyer\u2019s advertisement said they might be entitled to free money.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Do you see why you might develop a distaste for these shenanigans?<\/p>\n

Many of my fellow mass tort defense lawyers were hardcore Republicans.\u00a0Although generalities can be misleading, there was a widespread perception in the defense bar that Democrats appointed pro-regulatory folks to the FDA.\u00a0Democratic regulatory appointees were extraordinarily tough on drug companies.\u00a0Democrats also appointed many judges who didn\u2019t like to grant summary judgment in cases in which thousands of people sued the manufacturer of some drug or device:\u00a0\u201cThe evidence might be pretty thin, but thousands of people are claiming that the bubble gum causes brain cancer!\u00a0Who am I to throw out those lawsuits?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mass tort defense lawyers just had to vote Republican. That was the only chance they had to win their cases!<\/p>\n

Where do mass tort defense lawyers stand now?<\/p>\n

Mass tort defense lawyers, as a group, are pretty well off financially:\u00a0They\u2019re partners at prestigious defense firms.\u00a0These folks aren\u2019t really motivated by the culture wars.\u00a0Indeed, as I heard many years ago (long before Trump): \u201cMark, you should vote Republican.\u00a0The Republicans just say that crap about guns and abortion to placate the lunatics.\u00a0What really matters are the money issues \u2014 taxes and spending \u2014 and Republicans are much better than Democrats on those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mass tort defense lawyers generally believed in free trade; these folks had gone to college when the benefits of free trade were the conventional wisdom.\u00a0Trump has disappointed the free traders.<\/p>\n

Mass tort defense lawyers believed in keeping the federal deficit under control.\u00a0Trump has let them down.<\/p>\n

Mass tort defense lawyers tend to be \u201claw and order\u201d types.\u00a0They weren\u2019t happy on January 6, 2021, when Trump unleashed his supporters on Congress, and they weren\u2019t happy on January 20, 2025, when Trump granted a wholesale pardon to the rioters.<\/p>\n

These lawyers don\u2019t believe in a weaponized Department of Justice.\u00a0They were outraged when federal and state Democratic administrations indicted Trump:\u00a0\u201cThis happens only in Third World countries!\u201d Those 34 felony convictions posed a little more trouble for my brethren \u2014 the indictments were phony, but how do you explain convictions? \u2014 but they nonetheless made excuses:\u00a0\u201cThe trial was in New York City.\u00a0I usually believe in the jury system, but this never should have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that Trump\u2019s encouraging his Department of Justice to pursue Letitia James, John Bolton, Jim Comey, and others, all that\u2019s left is cognitive dissonance.\u00a0Maybe:\u00a0\u201cThe Democrats did it.\u00a0Trump\u2019s mad.\u00a0Fair is fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Tylenol, guys, Tylenol!<\/p>\n

Well-established science suggests that Tylenol does not cause autism or ADHD.\u00a0In the mass tort litigation involving Tylenol, the\u00a0trial court threw out<\/a>\u00a0the plaintiffs\u2019 claims, saying that the plaintiffs\u2019 experts used unreliable methodologies and failed to prove a credible link between the use of Tylenol during pregnancy and the alleged harms.<\/p>\n

Junk science, guys, junk science!<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been beating that drum for decades, and now you have a judge who\u2019s on your side!<\/p>\n

The\u00a0appellate argument<\/a>\u00a0on the trial court\u2019s decision is scheduled for October 6.<\/p>\n

And now, just weeks before oral argument, Trump and RFK Jr. choose to announce that, on the basis of the same old tired evidence, the FDA believes that taking Tylenol during pregnancy is dangerous.<\/p>\n

Might now be the time to break your inherited allegiance to the Republican Party and move on to sanity?<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t Tylenol, at long last, give you a headache?<\/p>\n

\n

Mark\u00a0Herrmann\u00a0spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Curmudgeon\u2019s Guide to Practicing Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(affiliate links). You can reach him by email at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>inhouse@abovethelaw.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Does Tylenol Give Mass Tort Defense Lawyers A Headache?<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
It\u2019s like there\u2019s a worm in my brain, eating away at my sanity. (Image via Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For most of the 20 years that I worked at a law firm, I defended\u00a0pharmaceutical and medical device<\/a>\u00a0(and other) mass torts.<\/p>\n

The things that you do professionally can create a bias:\u00a0I did not like the plaintiffs\u2019 bar.\u00a0I never defended a lawsuit brought on behalf of a single individual, so I saw little of the good that plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers do.\u00a0But I saw many class actions and mass torts that seemed designed only to transfer money from pharmaceutical and medical device companies to plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers.\u00a0Whether a drug or device actually harmed anyone was beside the point; anyone who was actually hurt could file their own individual lawsuit. The class actions and mass torts picked up the stragglers, whose situations didn\u2019t merit filing a case \u2014 people who overpaid for an allegedly dangerous drug (but hadn\u2019t suffered physical injury) and wanted to recover the purchase price; people who hadn\u2019t been hurt yet but might be hurt in the future; people who didn\u2019t even know they had a claim, but the lawyer\u2019s advertisement said they might be entitled to free money.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Do you see why you might develop a distaste for these shenanigans?<\/p>\n

Many of my fellow mass tort defense lawyers were hardcore Republicans.\u00a0Although generalities can be misleading, there was a widespread perception in the defense bar that Democrats appointed pro-regulatory folks to the FDA.\u00a0Democratic regulatory appointees were extraordinarily tough on drug companies.\u00a0Democrats also appointed many judges who didn\u2019t like to grant summary judgment in cases in which thousands of people sued the manufacturer of some drug or device:\u00a0\u201cThe evidence might be pretty thin, but thousands of people are claiming that the bubble gum causes brain cancer!\u00a0Who am I to throw out those lawsuits?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mass tort defense lawyers just had to vote Republican. That was the only chance they had to win their cases!<\/p>\n

Where do mass tort defense lawyers stand now?<\/p>\n

Mass tort defense lawyers, as a group, are pretty well off financially:\u00a0They\u2019re partners at prestigious defense firms.\u00a0These folks aren\u2019t really motivated by the culture wars.\u00a0Indeed, as I heard many years ago (long before Trump): \u201cMark, you should vote Republican.\u00a0The Republicans just say that crap about guns and abortion to placate the lunatics.\u00a0What really matters are the money issues \u2014 taxes and spending \u2014 and Republicans are much better than Democrats on those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mass tort defense lawyers generally believed in free trade; these folks had gone to college when the benefits of free trade were the conventional wisdom.\u00a0Trump has disappointed the free traders.<\/p>\n

Mass tort defense lawyers believed in keeping the federal deficit under control.\u00a0Trump has let them down.<\/p>\n

Mass tort defense lawyers tend to be \u201claw and order\u201d types.\u00a0They weren\u2019t happy on January 6, 2021, when Trump unleashed his supporters on Congress, and they weren\u2019t happy on January 20, 2025, when Trump granted a wholesale pardon to the rioters.<\/p>\n

These lawyers don\u2019t believe in a weaponized Department of Justice.\u00a0They were outraged when federal and state Democratic administrations indicted Trump:\u00a0\u201cThis happens only in Third World countries!\u201d Those 34 felony convictions posed a little more trouble for my brethren \u2014 the indictments were phony, but how do you explain convictions? \u2014 but they nonetheless made excuses:\u00a0\u201cThe trial was in New York City.\u00a0I usually believe in the jury system, but this never should have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that Trump\u2019s encouraging his Department of Justice to pursue Letitia James, John Bolton, Jim Comey, and others, all that\u2019s left is cognitive dissonance.\u00a0Maybe:\u00a0\u201cThe Democrats did it.\u00a0Trump\u2019s mad.\u00a0Fair is fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Tylenol, guys, Tylenol!<\/p>\n

Well-established science suggests that Tylenol does not cause autism or ADHD.\u00a0In the mass tort litigation involving Tylenol, the\u00a0trial court threw out<\/a>\u00a0the plaintiffs\u2019 claims, saying that the plaintiffs\u2019 experts used unreliable methodologies and failed to prove a credible link between the use of Tylenol during pregnancy and the alleged harms.<\/p>\n

Junk science, guys, junk science!<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been beating that drum for decades, and now you have a judge who\u2019s on your side!<\/p>\n

The\u00a0appellate argument<\/a>\u00a0on the trial court\u2019s decision is scheduled for October 6.<\/p>\n

And now, just weeks before oral argument, Trump and RFK Jr. choose to announce that, on the basis of the same old tired evidence, the FDA believes that taking Tylenol during pregnancy is dangerous.<\/p>\n

Might now be the time to break your inherited allegiance to the Republican Party and move on to sanity?<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t Tylenol, at long last, give you a headache?<\/p>\n

\n

Mark\u00a0Herrmann\u00a0spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Curmudgeon\u2019s Guide to Practicing Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(affiliate links). You can reach him by email at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>inhouse@abovethelaw.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Does Tylenol Give Mass Tort Defense Lawyers A Headache?<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s like there\u2019s a worm in my brain, eating away at my sanity. (Image via Getty) For most of the 20 years that I worked at a law firm, I defended\u00a0pharmaceutical and medical device\u00a0(and other) mass torts. The things that you do professionally can create a bias:\u00a0I did not like the plaintiffs\u2019 bar.\u00a0I never defended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":134069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/worry-headache-lawyer-GettyImages-946039056-620x411-wyVtlr.jpg?fit=620%2C411&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}