Plaintiff Barred from Asserting Autism-Related Claims in Depakote Case Set for Trial

BENTON, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge has barred a plaintiff from alleging his in utero exposure to Depakote caused him to develop autism, noting the plaintiff’s expert has never included autism in the list of defects he allegedly suffers from.

On Nov. 15, Judge Nancy Rosenstengel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois concluded that an autism-related claim fails in the absence of any other expert evidence supporting the plaintiff’s causation theory.

Trial in the case is scheduled to begin on Nov. 27.

Beatrice Sifuentes, as caretaker of J.F., who was born in 2007, alleges …