Court Reverses Ruling, Allows Failure-to-Warn Claim against Distributors

LOS ANGELES - The court overseeing California's coordinated Vioxx proceedings has reversed its earlier decision and overruled distributor defendants' demurrer to plaintiffs' claim against distributors for strict liability failure to warn. In Re: Vioxx Cases, JCCP No. 4247 (Calif. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty.).

On May 16, Judge Victoria G. Chaney of the Los Angeles Superior Court issued a revised ruling after granting reconsideration of the court's March 3 ruling in which it dismissed plaintiffs' first cause of action against distributor defendants for strict liability for failure to warn.

Judge Chaney said that the court erred in holding that a …