Contrasting verdicts in two trials over Pfizer's drug Prempro prove the importance of a judge willing to block damaging evidence from the jury. On Wednesday a federal jury in Bridgeport found that a Pfizer subsidiary wasn't liable for the 2006 death from breast cancer of a 62-year old nurse who used Prempro. In contrast, a jury in nearby New Haven returned a $4 million verdict against Wyeth in a different Prempro trial a month ago.

The newly Democratic senator has apparently decided that the interests of the people of Pennsylvania are closely aligned with those of the trial bar. In July we told you about his new bill to roll back the Supreme Court's Iqbal pleading standard. Now he and two other Dems want to do away with Stoneridge as well.