Abbott Denied Judgment as a Matter of Law on Negligence, Warning Claims in Depakote Action

CINCINNATI — An Ohio federal judge has denied Abbot Laboratories Corp.’s motion for judgment as a matter of law on claims of nonconformance with representations, negligent design, failure to warn, and punitive damages in a Depakote birth defect action, finding there is a sufficiently evidentiary basis to find for the plaintiff on those issues.

However, in an Oct. 23 order, Judge Susan J. Dlott of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio granted the drug maker’s motion as to the plaintiff’s breach of express and implied warranty claims, ruling that the Ohio Products Liability Act subsumes them.