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The Pennsylvania Superior Court has opened the door for plaintiffs in the Risperdal mass tort to seek possible punitive damages. The ruling significantly raises the stakes of the litigation, which currently involves more than 6,000 pending cases in Philadelphia.

A three-judge Superior Court panel ruled Monday that plaintiffs may seek to have the law of their home state apply to their case when it comes to the question of whether they should be allowed to seek punitive damages at trial. The ruling reversed a decision that had applied New Jersey law to the litigation globally. The Garden State's products liability law specifically prohibits punitive damages.

The ruling, which was outlined in a 42-page opinion in Stange v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, did not hold that punitive damages needed to apply in the case, but it said the trial judge should have considered whether to apply Wisconsin law, which is the law of plaintiff Timothy Stange's home state.