Weeks ago the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions in three products liability cases. Two involved questions regarding personal jurisdiction over foreign manufacturers.1 One concerned issues of warnings liability on the part of generic drug manufacturers, notably whether inadequate warnings claims were preempted by federal law.2 It will be remembered that our March 14 column already reported on the Supreme Court’s Williamson v. Mazda decision holding no implied preemption of a seat belt design claim; the Court’s grant of a “GVR” order in Priester v. Ford Motor Co., remanding to the South Carolina Supreme Court an automotive side window glass design claim, also raising preemption issues; and the Court’s Bruesewitz v. Wyeth decision holding preemption of a child vaccine claim, all issued in late February of this year.3 Witnessing six products cases ruled upon by the nation’s high Court in one term seems at least some indication of just how important this field of litigation has become.
On June 23 the Supreme Court issued its remarkable 5-4 decision in Pliva Inc. v. Mensing,4 holding that inadequate warnings claims filed against manufacturers of generic drugs were preempted because federal drug regulations applicable to generic drug manufacturers directly conflicted with the state law claims. Plaintiffs in these consolidated cases were females prescribed a drug called metoclopramide that speeds movement of food through the digestive system and, therefore, is used to treat digestive tract problems.
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