The father of a man who died from an opiate-related overdose has asked the Pennsylvania Superior Court to reinstate his case against drugmaker Teva, over the marketing of its powerful fentanyl lozenge Actiq.

Joseph A. Caltagirone, the plaintiff in Caltagirone v. Cephalon, filed an appeal with the intermediate court Wednesday, asking that it set aside Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Frederica Massiah-Jackson's March decision to toss the case. Joseph A. Caltagirone brought a wrongful death action in the wake of the overdose that claimed the life of his son, Joseph F. Caltagirone.

The appellate brief, filed by Console & Hollawell attorney Richard Hollawell, took issue specifically with two of Massiah-Jackson's holdings: that the case was pre-empted by federal law and that the learned-intermediary doctrine barred the claims, saying she engaged in a premature summary judgment analysis.