Judge Rules Proposed Class Lacks Commonality; Denies Certification to OxyContin Plaintiffs

CINCINNATI - A federal judge rejected the plaintiffs' motion to certify a class consisting of residents of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia after finding that the proposed class did not meet the commonality requirement of Federal Rules for Civil Procedure 23(a)(2). Judy Wethington, et al., v. Purdue Pharma L.P., et al., No. 01-CV-00441 (S.D. Ohio, Western Div.).

On Sept. 30, U.S. District Judge Arthur Spiegel ruled that the plaintiffs' claims against OxyContin-manufacturer Purdue Pharma and Abbott Laboratories, the company that helped market the drug, lacked commonality because each proposed class member received the drug from a physician who acted …