Taxotere Eye Injury Lawsuit Filed by Deceased Plaintiff Dismissed For Now

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana federal judge has dismissed without prejudice a Taxotere eye injury action that was filed after the plaintiff died, ruling that under the nullity doctrine, the deceased lacked standing to file suit and therefore the substitution of her surviving spouse as plaintiff was improper.

Judge Jane T. Milazzo of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana concluded that the complaint “suffers from an incurable jurisdictional defect.”

Plaintiffs in the MDL sued several pharmaceutical companies that manufactured and/or distributed the chemotherapy drug Taxotere (docetaxel), alleging it caused them to sustain injuries to their lacrimal …