Pa. Appellate Court Upholds Summary Awards to Janssen in 2 Risperdal Cases, Says Claims Are Time-Barred

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania intermediate court has upheld awards of summary judgment to Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. in two Risperdal cases, finding the plaintiffs’ claims were untimely because they were on notice of the cause of their injuries by October 2006, when the drug’s label was changed to include a warning about gynecomastia.

In a Nov. 13 opinion, the Pennsylvania Superior Court explained that even if the two-year statute of limitations was tolled by defendants’ efforts to conceal the link between the anti-psychotic drug and gynecomastia, plaintiffs should have begun investigating the cause of their injuries by 2006.

Jonathan Saksek and …