Handing plaintiffs a major success, the Third Circuit US Court of Appeals revived 5,000 product liability cases involving the osteoporosis drug Fosamax, ruling that federal preemption of state-law claims is a question of fact for a jury to decide, not a question of law for a judge.
The ruling in In re Fosamax Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 14-1900 et al, decided March 22, 2017, is a major setback for Merck and other Big Pharma companies that seek to torpedo patient claims in summary judgment motions, by arguing that:
On the other hand, the ruling is a boon to plaintiff lawyers who are striving to preserve their lawsuits against preemption attacks that have nothing to do with the merits of the case.
The US Supreme Court Opinion created confusion about the preemption issue in Wyeth v. Levine, 555 U.S. 555 (2009). The ruling says that state-law failure-to-warn claims are preempted by federal law when there is “clear evidence” that the FDA would not have approved a label change. "This standard is cryptic and open-ended, and lower courts have struggled to make it readily administrable," the Third Circuit commented.
Resolving the issue, the Third Circuit held that "The meaning of “clear evidence,” as Supreme Court usage confirms that the term is synonymous with “clear and convincing evidence.” The latter is a well-recognized intermediate standard of proof—more demanding than a preponderance of the evidence, but less demanding than proof beyond a reasonable doubt."
Furthermore, the appeals court ruled:
The successful argument to the Third Circuit was made by plaintiff attorneys Edward Braniff of Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC in New York, Michael E. Pederson of Weitz & Luxenberg in New York, and Donald A. Ecklund of Carella Byrne Cecchi Olstein Brody & Agnello in Roseland, NJ.
Beginning in 2010, hundreds of plaintiffs filed personal-injury suits against the drug manufacturer Merck Sharp & Dohme, alleging that the osteoporosis drug Fosamax caused them to suffer serious thigh bone fractures.
Each Plaintiff brought a state-law tort claim alleging that Merck failed to add an adequate warning of the risk of thigh fractures to Fosamax’s FDA-approved drug label. Many Plaintiffs also filed additional claims including defective design, negligence, and breach of warranty. Plaintiffs’ suits were consolidated for pretrial administration in a multi-district litigation in the District of New Jersey. Following discovery and a bellwether trial, the District Court granted Merck’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed all of Plaintiffs’ claims on the ground that they were preempted by federal law.
Plaintiffs’ suits were consolidated for pretrial administration in a multi-district litigation in the District of New Jersey. Following discovery and a bellwether trial, the District Court granted Merck’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed all of Plaintiffs’ claims on the ground that they were preempted by federal law.
Fosamax is a treatment for osteoporosis, but plaintiffs claim that the drug actually increases the risk of thigh bone fractures. Plaintiffs claim that while stress fractures typically heal on their own, “some Fosamax users who develop insufficiency fractures have reduced bone toughness, and Fosamax prevents the normal repair of the fracture.” According to Plaintiffs, these patients may then go on to develop what are known as “atypical femoral fractures”: severe, non-traumatic, low energy complete fractures of the femur.
In 2013, Merck reached a separate settlement of $27 million with 1,200 Fosamax users who suffered necrosis of the jawbone.
