Opinion ID: 614031
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: DISCUSSION Federal Preemption

Text: On appeal, the plaintiffs contend that the district court erred in concluding that their state-law failure-to-warn claims against the generic defendants were preempted by federal law. Their arguments must fail, however, given the recent decision of the Supreme Court in PLIVA, Inc. v. Mensing, ___ U.S. ___, 131 S.Ct. 2567, 180 L.Ed.2d 580 (2011), issued on June 23, 2011. Just as in the present case, the plaintiffs in Mensing alleged that their long-term use of generic metoclopramide caused tardive dyskinesia, and they predicated the manufacturers' liability under state law on the failure to provide adequate warnings on the product's label. The Supreme Court held unequivocally, however, that federal law preempts state laws that impose on generic-drug manufacturers the duty to change a drug's label, thus barring the plaintiffs' state-law tort claims. The plain language of the PLIVA decision compels the same result here.