Judge Denies Motion to Remand, Rules Pharmacy is Fraudulently Joined

MINNEAPOLIS - U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis denied a plaintiff's motion to remand her Baycol products liability case on grounds that the pharmacy defendant was fraudulently joined to the claim. In re: Baycol Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 1431 (D. Minn.).

Judge Davis' Oct. 4 order, which applied to civil case No. 02-878, Mendietta v. Bayer Corp., et al., said that the pharmacy was fraudulently joined because the plaintiff could not pursue failure to warn claims against it pursuant to Texas state law and the learned intermediary doctrine.

Plaintiff Gracie Mendietta argued that under Texas state law once a …