Utah Federal Court Declines to Apply Collateral Estoppel to Paxil Suicide Case

SALT LAKE CITY - A Utah federal court has declined to apply offensive, non-mutual collateral estoppel resulting from a 2001 Wyoming jury verdict to a Paxil case, noting that it would be "contrary to public policy to allow a single jury verdict to brand an entire product defective throughout the country, particularly when there exists a significant and ongoing debate in the scientific and medical community about the issues involved in this and other SSRI cases." Coburn, et al. v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. d/b/a GlaxoSmithKline, No. 1:98cv140K (D. Utah).

The U.S. District Court for the District of Utah concluded in …