Federal Pre-emption of Failure to Warn Claims in Recent Drug Cases

In 2004, four drug cases, which were decided in different jurisdictions, effectively split on the issue of whether FDA labeling regulations pre-empt state common law failure to warn claims. <i>Fisher v. Professional Compounding Centers of America, Inc.</i>, 311 F. Supp. 2d 1008 (D. Nev. 2004) and <i>Kurer v. Parke, Davis &amp; Co.</i>, 272 Wis. 2d 390, 679 N.W.2d 867 (Wis. Ct. App. 2004) endorsed the view that FDA labeling regulations did not pre-empt common law failure to warn claims in drug cases, while <i>Dusek v. Pfizer Inc.</i>, 2004 WL 2191804 (S.D. Tex., Feb. 20, 2004) and <i>Needleman v. Pfizer Inc.</i>, 2004 WL 1773697 (N.D.Tex., Aug. 6, 2004) held that FDA regulations do pre-empt failure to warn claims, at least in certain circumstances.

23 minute read June 27, 2005 at 12:14 AM

By

Beth L. Kaufman And David Black