|
U.S. PIRG Consumer Blog
« New York seeks to prohibit costly tax refund anticipation loans |
Main
| More on New York tax refund loan lawsuits based on civil rights »
January 19, 2008
Court to hear cases affecting consumer state law rights to sue corporations
The Supreme Court has accepted petitions on two more product liability cases. The cases reflect a "concerted effort" by powerful interests to eliminate lawsuits under state laws for consumer harm, as Linda Greenhouse notes in her New York Times story Justices to Hear Cases on Product Liability: "The proliferation of pre-emption cases on the court's docket in part reflects the considerable turmoil in the lower courts over the complex issues involved. It also reflects a concerted effort by the business community to push for federal pre-emption as a shield against state courts." As we have previously noted, several Bush administration safety agencies (CPSC and also the FDA and NHTSA at least) have boldly asserted powers Congress never gave them: to preempt state laws by rule. Further, "a merry band" of industry lawyers moving back and forth between K St. lobby houses and the administration is running a political campaign against consumer legal rights.
The new cases concern whether the federal tobacco warning label law preempts state law claims that "low-tar and nicotine" promises are deceptive and whether an FDA-approved drug company label immunizes the firm from lawsuits by victims of side-effects. This case, according to Greenhouse, concerns "a guitar player who suffered the career-ending amputation of her right arm after being injected in a hospital with an anti-nausea drug." The story also notes another preemption case, Medtronic, heard in the Court late last year. We are friends of the court in that case, on behalf of the victim of a failed medical device made by the firm.
Posted by Ed Mierzwinski at January 19, 2008 05:34 PM
Post a comment
|
