Personal Injury Law

Encouraging News? Congress Prepares to Undo Anticipated Supreme Court Decision Precluding Lawsuits Over Dangerous Drugs

In the event that the Supreme Court applies the federal doctrine of preemption to permit the pharmaceutical industry to avoid accountability for the harm dangerous drugs cause, the only remedy would be for Congress to pass a law expressly stating that preemption does not preclude state court lawsuits for compensation. And that, hopefully, is the goal of the process engaged in by Chairman Rep. Henry A. Waxman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives this past Wednesday, May 14, 2008. Similarly, Reps. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Waxman (D-Calif.) have drafted legislation, the Medical Device Safety Act of 2008, to ensure federal law does not preempt state law when people harmed by medical devices sue.

Full post as published by Legal Blog on May 16, 2008 (boomark / email).