Judge: Celebrex Plaintiff's Medical Malpractice Claims Defeat Diversity

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Finding that a Texas man adequately pleaded a cause of action for medical malpractice against his non-diverse prescribing physician, a federal judge has remanded the plaintiff's Celebrex lawsuit for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Sauceda v. Pfizer Inc., et al., No. 06-519 (S.D. Texas).

In a Dec. 26 order, Judge Janis Graham Jack of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas said that Jesus Sauceda properly joined his Texas physician, Dr. Abimael Perez, by sufficiently pleading the four elements of a medical malpractice claim as required by Texas law.

In addition, Judge Jack …