Dilantin Injury Case is Time-Barred, Kentucky Federal Judge Rules

PASUCAH, Ky. - A Dilantin injury case is barred by Kentucky's one-year statute of limitations because the plaintiff knew as early as 2003 that the epilepsy drug could have caused his neuropathy, a federal judge has ruled. Smith v. Pfizer Inc., No. 5:10-149 (W.D. Ky.).

On Aug. 17, Chief Judge Thomas B. Russell of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky rejected the plaintiff's argument that his claims did not accrue until December 2009, when he was formally diagnosed and taken off Dilantin.

Jody L. Smith, 41, began having epileptic seizures when he was 13 and in …