Friday, October 6, 2006
Pfizer Must Face Suit in Michigan Over Rezulin
Article in today's Los Angeles Times -- Pfizer Must Face Suit in Michigan Over Rezulin, from Bloomberg News: "Pfizer Inc. must defend a lawsuit in which people claim its diabetes drug Rezulin damaged their livers."
BGS
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/mass_tort_litigation/2006/10/pfizer_must_fac.html
It looks like an interesting and potentially important decision on the intersection of federal preemption and state tort reform. The case is Desiano v. Warner-Lambert (2d Cir. 10/5/06). The headline of the L.A. Times article may be misleading in suggesting that Pfizer must face suit in Michigan. Although I've only had time to take a quick glance at the opinion, it seems that Judge Kaplan (overseeing the Rezulin MDL in SDNY) granted judgment on the pleadings for the defendant as to the Michigan plaintiffs based on Michigan law. The 2d Circuit disagreed with his interpretation of Michigan law (and its intersection with federal preemption) and therefore reversed. Unless I'm missing something, that would leave these cases, at least for the time being, reinstated in the MDL in SDNY, not in Michigan.
Posted by: Howard Erichson | Oct 11, 2006 8:26:05 PM