Plaintiffs Lose Pre-Certification Summary Trial In BC For Failure To Provide Unbiased Expert Evidence

In a pre-certification summary trial, the British Columbia Supreme Court in Player Estate v. Janssen-Ortho Inc.,¹ dismissed claims against defendant manufacturers of fentanyl patches. One feature of this case may have limited applicability to the British Columbia class actions bar, given the differences between the law in BC and other Canadian provinces noted below, but it illustrates how the failure to submit proper expert evidence can be fatal to a claim.

The representative plaintiffs were widowed after their husbands died while using prescription transdermal fentanyl patches. They sought to certify a class action alleging that the patches manufactured by the defendants were defectively designed and the defendants failed to warn customers of the risks associated with their products.