Mo. Federal Judge Remands Lipitor Case; Finds Nondiverse Plaintiffs Were Not Fraudulently Misjoined

KANSAS CITY — A Missouri federal judge has remanded a Lipitor case to state court, ruling that Pfizer Inc. failed to show that the nondiverse plaintiffs were fraudulently misjoined or that the claims of those plaintiffs have “no real connection” to one another.

On March 26, Judge Carol E. Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri explained that the joinder of plaintiffs alleging injury from a single drug is not "egregious" because common issues of law and fact connect the plaintiffs' claims.

In January, 91 plaintiffs sued Pfizer in the St. Louis Circuit Court, alleging …