Defective Design/Manufacturing Claims Not Preempted, Ohio State Judge Rules

CLEVELAND — An Ohio state judge has refused to dismiss defective design/manufacturing claims based on a recall of the generic version of warfarin, ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court has not determined whether such claims are federally preempted. Kriesmer v. Upsher-Smith Laboratories Inc., No. 12-557 (Ohio Comm. Pls., Stark Cty.).

In a May 24 ruling, Judge John G. Haas of the Stark County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas dismissed the plaintiff’s failure-to-warn claims and defective/design manufacture claims insofar as they are grounded in failure-to-warn, ruling that they are preempted under PLIVA Inc. v. Mensing (131 S. Ct. 2567 [2011]). However, …