Analyzing Ixchel v. Biogen’s new rules

by John F. McLean and Patrick E. O’Shaughnessy

John “Jack” McLean, Of Counsel to the firm, and Patrick O’Shaughnessy, a Principal of Bartko Bunzel & Miller, have published an article in the San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Journal analyzing two new pleading rules in Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc.

Last week, the California Supreme Court established two new pleading rules in Ixchel Pharma, LLC v. Biogen, Inc., 2020 DJ-DAR 8084 (Aug. 3, 2020). For claims of tortious interference with at-will contracts, plaintiffs now must plead facts showing the defendant’s conduct was itself illegal, apart from the “interference.” For claims that certain non‑compete contracts between businesses violate Business and Professions Code Section 16600, plaintiffs must plead facts suggesting the contracts were anticompetitive under the “rule of reason” standard. Read the PDF article in its entirety.