Ethicon Surgiflo Packing Claims Expressly Preempted by MDA, Calif. Federal Judge Rules

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge has dismissed state law claims of manufacturing defect and failure to warn asserted against Ethicon Inc. in connection with its Surgiflo surgical packing device, ruling that they are expressly preempted because plaintiffs failed to plead parallel violations of federal law.

In the Dec. 6 order, however, Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California allowed plaintiffs to amend their complaint a third time in order to plead their claims with the requisite specificity to defeat preemption.

Kimberly Weaver underwent sinus surgery on Nov. 24, 2014, during …