Massachusetts state and federal courts issued a number of
important product liability decisions in 2015. The Product
Liability and Toxic Tort Litigation Group at Nutter recently
reviewed these cases. Highlighted below are some of the key cases
and issues decided in the past year.
Reckis v. Johnson & Johnson, 471
Mass. 272 (April 17, 2015): Interpreting Wyeth v. Levine
to hold rejection of a Citizen's Petition to change an
FDA-approved warning label was not "clear evidence" that
the FDA had in fact rejected a warning about potentially
life-threatening diseases. (Botsford, J.)
In re Celexa and Lexapro Marketing and Sales
Practices Litigation, 779 F.3d 34 (1st Cir. Feb. 20,
2015): Interpreting PLIVA, Inc. v. Mensing to hold
impossibility preemption extends to brand name drugs when a
proposed label change is not based on new information. (Kayatta,
J.)
