“Plaintiff’s failure-to-warn claims against the manufacturers of metoclopramide, the generic version of Reglan, [are] not preempted by federal law”: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit today issued a ruling that the court’s web site summarizes as follows:

Plaintiff’s failure-to-warn claims against the manufacturers of metoclopramide, the generic version of Reglan, were not preempted by federal law; district court did not err in dismissing plaintiff’s claims against manufacturers of the name brand versions of the drug, as they did not owe her duty of care since she never took name brand versions of the drug and holding name brand manufacturers liable for harm caused by generic manufacturers stretches the concept of foreseeability too far.

The failure-to-warn claims at issue in the case arise under Minnesota law.

“Court rules against Wal-Mart workers”: Kirk Makin of The Toronto Globe and Mail has a news update that begins, “A move to unionize the massive Wal-Mart store chain was dealt a blow this morning when the Supreme Court of Canada voted 6-3 against workers at a Quebec outlet that attempt to unionize.”

The Montreal Gazette has a news update headlined “Supreme Court buys Wal-Mart stance on store closure.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Canada high court rules for Wal-Mart in union case.”

The Supreme Court of Canada issued two rulings in these cases today, and you can access them here (main ruling) and here (companion case).

“Canadian judge rules Happy Gilmore golf shot illegal; A Canadian judge decided that the ‘Happy Gilmore’ golf shot made famous by Adam Sandler, ‘breached the standard of care’ in a Nova Scotia Supreme Court case”: This post appeared earlier this week at the “global news blog” of The Christian Science Monitor.

You can access the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia at this link.

Available online from law.com: Marcia Coyle of The National Law Journal reports that “Small Firm Takes Big Bankruptcy Fight to High Court.”

An article reports that “Supreme Court May Hear ‘Cat’s Paw’ Case.”

In other news, “9th Circuit Widens Split on Rights of Independent Contractors.”

And an article reports that “N.J. Supreme Court to Weigh Employee’s Use of Private Company Records in Bias Suit.”

“No decisions in high court’s horn of plenty”: Mark Sherman and Jesse J. Holland of The Associated Press has a report that begins, “For the first time under Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court failed to issue opinions before Thanksgiving in any of the cases that were argued in recent months.”

“Mental State Cited in 9/11 Case”: Today in The Wall Street Journal, Jess Bravin has an article that begins, “When five defendants are brought before a New York federal judge to face charges for the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the first question may be whether some of them are competent to stand trial at all.”

The newspaper also contains an op-ed by Thomas Wilner entitled “Obama Made the Right Call on KSM; A civilian court is the best venue for justice.”

“Benefits for same-sex partners are expanding”: This article appears today in The Washington Post.

“After Supreme Court clerkship, UW grad returns to teach at law school”: The Wisconsin State Journal posted this article online yesterday afternoon.

“Playing by Reid’s rules on filibusters”: Today in The Washington Post, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has an op-ed that begins, “Legal scholars have long debated whether the filibuster may be used to keep judicial nominees off the bench.”