Today’s guest post comes from Reed Smith partner, Matt Jacobson. He discusses a new medical device case that puts the “Tw” in TwIqball – as in twisting a screw. The result is a total defense win, albeit with the “twist” that the plaintiff can try again, if he can. As always, our guest posters deserve 100% of the credit (and any blame) for what they write.
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Have you ever heard that old idiom “having a screw loose” and wondered where it came from? My guess is most of you have heard the saying, but never thought twice about its origin (well maybe Bexis has). But since I have your attention, here is a small history lesson. During the industrial revolution, if a screw from a machine came loose it meant that the machine was not behaving normally. Since these machines were built for mass production, having a screw come loose would cause the entire machine to shut down, halting the process. At least one person claims that Eli Whitney, famed for inventing the cotton gin, was the person to say this phrase first. But I cannot verify that fact no matter how many internet searches I ran, so that will remain a mystery.
Now you may be thinking “What does this slang phrase have to do with the law?”. Well, try everything in Ruiz v. Medtronic, Inc., No. 2:24-cv-00489-TLN-SCR, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12359 (E.D. Cal, January 23 2025). In this case, the plaintiff had a screw loose. Literally, not figuratively. Someone else might also have a screw loose (figuratively, not literally), but you can decide that for yourself.
The plaintiff underwent a hysterectomy, and during the surgery a certain tool was used. After surgery plaintiff experienced pain, and an x-ray revealed that a screw from the tool had come loose and was inside plaintiff’s pelvic cavity. Plaintiff had a second surgery to remove the screw. Right before the statute of limitations was set to expire, plaintiff sued the manufacturer of the tool in California state court. The case was removed on diversity grounds to the Eastern District of California. Plaintiff alleged three causes of action, which are all too familiar—strict liability, negligence, and breach of warranty. The manufacturer moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim, and plaintiff’s case got Twiqballed.
The Blog has written a lot on Twiqbal, for example here, here, here, and here, and is still very encouraged when courts get it right.
In the motion to dismiss, the manufacturer claimed that the only factual allegations in the complaint...
