State of Minnesota Opposes Pfizer's Bid to Use Preemption Doctrine in Zoloft Case

MINNEAPOLIS - The State of Minnesota has joined with a plaintiff in opposing Pfizer's reliance on federal preemption in its motion for summary judgment in a Zoloft suicide case. Witczak v. Pfizer Inc. No. 0:04-cv-2819 (D. Minn.).

Kimberly K. Witczak sued Pfizer Inc. in May 2004, alleging that her husband committed suicide in August 2003 as a direct result of using Zoloft (sertraline) to help him sleep. She asserted that Timothy M. Witczak used the drug for five weeks before hanging himself.

Witczak maintains that Pfizer failed to provide her husband's physicians with 'adequate warnings regarding the association between Zoloft …