Personal Injury Law

Update: Supreme Court Declines Review of Methylmercury Case With Potential Preemption Implications

By Kenneth Odza

An update to a case we've been following: the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit involving state-law claims over methylmercury content in canned tuna.

The Supreme Court's order in Tri-Union Seafoods, LLC v. Fellner leaves in place the Third Circuit's ruling that allowed the plaintiff to sue the maker of Chicken of the Sea products over methylmercury poisoning she allegedly suffered after consuming canned tuna almost exclusively for five years.

In its petition for a writ of certiorari, Tri-Union Seafoods argued that the Supreme Court should review the case to determine, among other things, whether regulatory actions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act preempt state-law claims based on a failure to warn of the risks of methylmercury in tuna products. The Supreme Court declined to review the case without comment.

Full post as published by Food Liability Law Blog on April 21, 2009 (boomark / email).