Rejecting a Delaware corporation’s arguments, the 3rd Circuit ruled last week that a Pennsylvania state law that mandates that steel used in public works projects be made in the United States is not unconstitutional or pre-empted by the federal Buy American Act.

In the latest volley by pharmaceutical defendants seeking alternative forums to Pennsylvania state court, drugmaker Pfizer has asked that almost 50 cases that have been removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania be consolidated into one multidistrict litigation.

Some harsh words shared between opposing attorneys at a meeting to discuss a case did not rise to defamation, the Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled, because the meeting was a privileged part of the judicial record in the case.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has restored the $28 million in punitive damages a jury awarded to a plaintiff who said drug makers Wyeth and Pharmacia & Upjohn failed to warn her doctor of the risks of breast cancer from using hormonal drugs. The trial judge had reduced the award to $1 million.

The U.S. Department of Justice has deemed the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional in a brief it filed in a Pennsylvania case regarding whether the wife of a former female Cozen O’Connor partner is able to collect the partner’s profit-sharing plan benefits under federal law.