The Moot Court Team of the John Marshall Law School of Chicago headed by Mary Nagel, their faculty sponsor, argued their moot court competition at Chicago’s Kreisman Law Offices before Civil Justice Attorney Robert Kreisman.
Moot Court is an activity where law students participate in simulated appellate court proceedings. However, moot court is actually more challenging than real appellate proceedings because students have to argue both sides of the critical issues in the case. The John Marshall Law School law students will be arguing both the appellant’s position and the appellee’s position in the national competition to be held in Cincinnati.
The issues of the fictional case involved pharmaceutical preemption by federal law, similar to those at issue in Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc and Wyeth v. Levine. The federal preemption issue revolves around whether or not warning language as to medical devices or pharmaceuticals approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) are open to medical device liability lawsuits or product liability lawsuits under state law if those medical devices or drugs had been approved by the FDA. The law students also argued issues of punitive damages and constitutional law. The underlying case was on appeal to the supreme court from appellate level after a jury verdict of $900,000 was entered against the defendant pharmaceutical company. The appellate court denied a reversal of the compensatory damages, but remittur was allowed on the punitive portion of the verdict.
Both parties presented strong arguments and were able to skillfully take on both sides. On the John Marshall Law School team were two students who will be competing in a national moot court competition.
Robert Kreisman of Kreisman Law Offices is a John Marshall Law School alumni and has been practicing product liability law in Chicago for over 30 years, serving areas in and around Cook County such as Cicero, Oak Lawn, Wheeling, and Park Forest.