T.H. V. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.

WHY IT MADE THE LIST

T.H. v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.¹ represents a significant departure from established product liability and innovator liability law. The case tackles two high- stakes theories of liability for brand-name manufacturers of pharmaceutical products:

(1) whether they can be liable for injuries caused by a generic manufacturer's drug; and (2) whether that liability extends after the brand-name manufacturer transfers rights to the product and no longer makes or sells it. Nearly every court that has addressed these theories has rejected them. In T.H., the California Supreme Court charted a different course. It held that a brand-name manufacturer can be liable for failure to update a label even when the plaintiffs used a generic version of the product, years after the brand-name manufacturer last held rights to it.