Ninth Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment for Pfizer in Zoloft Case

PASADENA, Calif. - The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal recently affirmed a district court's decision to award summary judgment to Pfizer, finding that the plaintiff failed to show that the Zoloft manufacturer's alleged failure to warn caused her husband to commit suicide. Flora Motus v. Pfizer, Inc., No. 02-55372, 02-55498 (9th Cir.).

The appellate court's Feb. 9 opinion noted that plaintiff Flora Motus failed to show that the allegedly inadequate warning caused her husband's suicide because she conceded that her husband's prescribing physician did not read Zoloft's package insert and warnings before prescribing the antidepressant.

'Because the doctor testified that …