Failure-To-Warn Claims in Children's Motrin Case Not Preempted, Judge Rules

PHILADELPHIA - A Pennsylvania federal judge has allowed failure-to-warn and punitive damage claims to proceed in a case in which a plaintiff alleges that over-the-counter Children's Motrin caused her to develop Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. Wolfe v. McNeil-PPC Inc., et al., No. 07-348 (E.D. Pa.).

On March 30, Judge Jan E. DuBois of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that the failure-to-warn claim is not preempted because defendants failed to show that the Food and Drug Administration would have rejected a stronger warning. The judge also found an issue of fact as to whether the defendant drug …