U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee grants motion to dismiss plaintiffs' claims on the pleadings in favor of Firm client Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
On April 21, 2010, the United State District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division, dismissed plaintiffs' claims against Firm client Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (“NPC”) on the grounds that plaintiffs' claims were speculative and did not meet federal pleading standards under Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949 (2009). Plaintiffs brought claims for strict liability, negligent manufacture, negligent failure to warn, breach of express warranty and breach of implied warranty. Plaintiffs alleged that plaintiff Margaret Patterson received Aredia® and/or generic Aredia (pamidronate) that caused her osteonecrosis of the jaw. The Court held that plaintiffs' use of "and/or" to identify which defendants' drug allegedly caused her injuries was insufficient because "[t]he information as to which drug Margaret Patterson was given is information within the reach of the Plaintiffs, information held by Plaintiff Margaret Patterson’s healthcare providers, in Plaintiff Margaret Patterson’s medical records, information which was available to Plaintiffs and, in compliance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 11, should have been obtained by the Plaintiffs before this lawsuit was filed." In re: Aredia and Zometa Products Liability Litigation, No. 3:09-1124 (M.D. Tenn. April 21, 2010).
The case had been part of the In re Aredia and Zometa Products Liability Litigation, a multidistrict litigation centralized in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The MDL was assigned to Chief Judge Campbell by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on April 18, 2006. Hollingsworth LLP is counsel for Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.