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Guinn Seroquel Expert Exclusion Ruling Affirmed By Eleventh Circuit

By James M. Beck and Mark Herrmann

Another big win for AZ in the Seroquel MDL.  The Guinn opinion excluding the plaintiff's expert specific (that is individualized to this patient) causation opinions, that made #8 on our best opinion list for 2009 was just affirmed by the 11th Circuit in a to-be-published (that means binding precedent, folks) opinion.  Here's a copy of it.  The grounds are essentially the same as in the district court:  (1) The plaintiff's expert did not adequately consider other causes in conducting a differential diagnosis.  Slip op. at 16-17.  There was far too much emphasis on temporal proximity than is allowable.  Id. at 18-19.  The other risk factors are so numerous and important that it was improper methodology to exclude them.  Id. at 19-21.  The expert deviated from her standard diagnostic practice in giving the opinion.  Id. at 21.  The opinions were not supported by the facts of the case.  Id. at 22-23.

As we said in our "best opinion" post, Guinn represented the MDL plaintiffs' best triable case (that is, it was a Florida case that could be tried in the MDL under Lexecon).  With plaintiffs' best case having been dismissed on summary judgment on Daubert grounds, and now affirmed, the viability of the other MDL cases must now be considered.  We can't say any more since Dechert represents AZ in this litigation - but we're pretty happy right now.

Congrats especially to Steven Weisburd and Dave Venderbush, who have steadfastly pursued the Daubert strategy that has now paid off big time.

Full post as published by Drug and Device Law on April 06, 2010 (boomark / email).