Defendants Secure Rare Summary Judgment In Zoloft MDL

In an unusual turn of events, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe recently granted defendants' motion for summary judgment as to over 300 cases in the Zoloft MDL.^[1] These cases were consolidated in 2012 and involved allegations that the antidepressant drug Zoloft causes birth defects. Having conducted substantial discovery and two rounds of Daubert hearings, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment in all pending cases. Defendants argued that the plaintiffs failed to produce an expert who could establish general causation, and that as a result, plaintiffs could not prevail on any of their claims. The court agreed. Its decision essentially turned on plaintiffs' failure to establish a causal link between Zoloft and the plaintiffs' injuries. In a detailed opinion, Judge Rufe summarized the prior Daubert hearings before analyzing each category of evidence offered by the plaintiffs.