Product Liability -- 2019



Pfizer v. Superior Court of Los Angeles   (U.S. Supreme Court)

Personal jurisdiction defenses

The NAM filed an amicus brief in support of a petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court to review and reverse a California state court ruling that allowed nonresident plaintiffs to sue a pharmaceutical company despite a lack of personal jurisdiction. In response to thousands of lawsuits against Pfizer involving its drug Lipitor, Pfizer sought to remove the cases to federal court. That effort was ultimately unsuccessful, at which point Pfizer sought to dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction. The state court ruled that Pfizer filed its motion to dismiss too late and therefore waived its personal jurisdiction defense. Such a ruling unfairly penalizes defendants for raising legitimate defenses at appropriate times in litigation. In complicated and multi-year litigation, defendants should not be compelled to exercise all defenses at the outset. The NAM’s amicus brief argued that the Court should grant the petition and reverse the California court’s ruling. On November 25, 2019, the court denied certiorari.


Related Documents:
NAM brief  (October 3, 2019)