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Monday, October 27, 2008

Courts - "In Drug Case, Justices to Weigh Right to Sue"

That is the headline to this story today in the WSJ about the upcoming oral arguments before the Supreme Court. This story, by Alicia Mundy and Shirley S. Wang, begins:

For nearly a century, Americans have been able to sue drug companies for deaths or injuries caused by medicines. Now the pharmaceutical industry and other big businesses are hoping the Supreme Court will sharply curb that right.

n a case called Wyeth v. Levine, which the court will hear next week, a Vermont guitarist named Diana Levine lost an arm to gangrene caused by an improperly administered nausea drug. A Vermont jury awarded her $6.7 million in damages from Wyeth, accepting her argument that the drug maker should have put stronger warnings on the label.

In its appeal of the verdict, the drug maker says the drug's label was approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and it argues the federal regulator's judgment should trump state law on issues of product safety. Many lawsuits are based on state consumer-safety regulations that often are stronger than federal standards.

"This case is worth tens of billions to the pharmaceutical industry," said Richard Rubin, Ms. Levine's lawyer.

The Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest business lobby, has called the battle -- with some hyperbole -- the business case of the century. The Bush administration has long promoted the idea that federal law pre-empts state lawsuits. It has included the notion of pre-emption in regulations for dozens of products, ranging from suntan lotion to seat belts, and has weighed in on Wyeth's side before the Supreme Court.

Here are some earlier ILB entries on this case, from 8/13/08 and 3/5/08.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 27, 2008 01:39 PM
Posted to Courts in general