Judge Remands Case After Finding Bayer's Removal Untimely

SEATTLE - A federal judge remanded a Mississippi couple's PPA products liability case after rejecting Bayer Corp.'s argument that there was an equitable exception to its removal of the case more than 18 months after it was filed. In re: Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) Products Liability Litigation, MDL 1407 (W.D. Wash.).

U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein ruled in an order entered March 26 that Bayer failed to show that it should be exempted from the one-year time limit on removal because the plaintiffs' made no changes to their claims against the pharmacy where they allegedly purchased Alka-Seltzer Plus.

On Nov. 1, 2001, …