INDIANAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) – A lower court didn’t do enough work when it allowed 36 Essure lawsuits against Bayer to proceed, the Indiana Supreme Court has ruled.
On June 12, the high court ruled unanimously that the Court of Appeals only addressed one of the claims of the plaintiffs when it should have considered the others, too. The decision sends the case back to the appeals court to do just that.
The lawsuits allege several defects in the Essure birth control device, like a fracture that causes it to break apart.
“The Court of Appeals addressed the legal viability of only one of those claims: defective manufacturing,” the decision says. “The Court of Appeals did not analyze the remaining ones, reasoning that any viable claim preserves the entire complaint. But that is not correct.”
Bayer is appealing a loss at the summary disposition stage. The Supreme Court found that the viability of a single claim does not mean judgment can’t be entered on other, deficient claims.
Bayer is arguing that the plaintiffs failed to adequately plead their claims and that they are preempted by the Medical Device Amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
The Court of Appeals decided a jury could reasonably conclude that an alleged failure to comply with federal manufacturing standards create a defective condition in Essure devices.
That type of claim is not preempted because it is premised on a violation of federal law and derived from traditional Indiana tort law, the court ruled.