Court Opinion

ID: 9646265
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 12:54:37.803208+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:36.185490
License: Public Domain

Steele Hays, Justice, dissenting in part. I would apply the comment k defense to all prescription drugs so long as the drug is properly manufactured and accompanied by warnings of any dangerous propensities which are known or reasonably knowable at the time of distribution. First, it would facilitate the research, development and marketing of potentially beneficial new drugs. Second, the case by case approach of the majority will not give clear guidelines to drug manufacturers — one drug may receive the protection of comment k while another may not, and, equally undesirable, a manufacturer may be held strictly liable in one locale but not in another. Third, there is no feasible method to determine which drugs are extremely beneficial and which are not. Drug manufacturers should not be exposed to strict liability under conditions which would clearly have a chilling effect on the development of new medications. In sum, I would adopt the view of the Supreme Court of California in its well reasoned opinion of Brown v. Superior Court, 44 Cal. 3d 1049, 751 P.2d 470 (1988).