James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse, which houses the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 3, 2021. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
A federal judge in Pennsylvania sent a joint products liability and medical malpractice suit back to Philadelphia Common Pleas Court last week, declining to apply divided circuit opinions on fraudulent-misjoinder arguments brought by the manufacturers of a tuberculosis-infected bone repair product.
In a Thursday ruling, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted a motion by the plaintiff, Charles Ashworth, to remand the suit Ashworth v. Eurofins Donor Product & Testing back to the state court after it had been removed to federal court by the defendants, Aziyo Biologics, Medtronic Sofamor Danek and Spinalgraft Technologies, the health care companies behind the bone repair putty FiberCel.
