State-court mass tort cases present challenges to the safeguards against forum-shopping, and a recent decision in the Reglan/metoclopramide litigation is a prime example.
In July, the Pennsylvania Superior Court voted, 2-1, in Hassett v. Dafoe and three companion cases not to apply pre-emption at the motion-to-dismiss stage to failure-to-warn claims involving generic versions of Reglan, a gastric pharmaceutical. Although this decision is pending further review, the ruling, if left to stand, will be an outlier, denying dismissal despite two recent U.S. Supreme Court cases (and the great weight of additional authority) holding that materially identical cases against generic drug manufacturers are pre-empted by federal law.
