A (relatively) long time ago in a state not so far away, the
Michigan Legislature enacted the Michigan Product Liability
Act. It contained a provision providing the manufacturers of
FDA-approved drugs with immunity from product liability absent the
application of two narrow exceptions. A challenge to the
constitutionality of the provision soon followed and the Michigan
Supreme Court, in Taylor v. Smithkline Beecham Corp., 658
N.W.2d 127 (Mich. 2003), basically said the legislature can enact a
law like that and the immunity on drug manufacturers was as broad
as it seemed. (This
guest post provides a nice history.) Other decisions
followed, like Garcia v. Wyeth-Ayerst Labs., 385 F.3d 961
(6th Cir. 2004), and Desiano v. Warner-Lambert & Co.,
467 F.3d 85, 98 (2d Cir. 2006), aff'd by equally
divided court, 552 U.S. 440 (2008), coming down on opposite sides
of the issue of whether the first exception—the defendant
"before the event that allegedly caused the injury . .
