Equitable tolling restrictions and proximate causation.

Consolidated cases seeking review of jury verdicts in cases against defendants Hoffman-La Roche, Inc. and Roche Laboratories, Inc. ("Roche"), manufacturers of the prescription drug Accutane. The plaintiffs were residents of Florida. They alleged that Roche was liable to them under Florida products liability law for their ongoing inflammatory bowel disease symptoms because the product warnings supplied with Accutane before 2003 were inadequate. The jury found Roche liable to the plaintiffs on their failure-to-warn claims and awarded them compensatory damages. Roche appealed. The two pivotal issues were: (1) whether the trial court erred in finding the plaintiffs' lawsuits timely, particularly in light of the equitable tolling restrictions recently set forth by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Kendall v. Hoffman-La Roche, Inc.; and (2) whether Roche was entitled to judgment under the controlling Florida law of proximate causation, given that each of the plaintiffs' treating dermatologists testified that they would have prescribed Accutane for them even if the product warnings had been stronger. The appellate panel affirmed the trial court's renewed conclusion in a remand decision applying Kendall that the plaintiffs' complaints were timely. The panel also concluded that controlling Florida precedent, specifically Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc. v. Mason, another Accutane products liability case finding the plaintiff failed to establish proximate cause, entitled Roche to judgment in each of these cases as a matter of law. The final judgments were reversed.

Case Law Alert - 1st Quarter 2013