Ca. Federal Judge Stays Zoloft Birth Defect Case Pending Ruling on Conditional Transfer

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge has granted Pfizer Inc.’s (NYSE: PFE) motion to stay a Zoloft birth defect case pending the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation’s decision on whether to transfer the case to the multidistrict litigation proceedings.

On April 5, Judge Yvonne G. Rogers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that a stay will avoid potentially inconsistent rulings on the issue of whether distributor McKesson Corp. was properly joined.

In December, J.W. and Miranda Evans sued Pfizer Inc. and distributors McKesson Corp. and Greenstone LLC in San Francisco Superior Court, alleging …