Profession
No class action for OxyContin case
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 21, 2005
A New York judge in late January said a personal injury lawsuit against the makers of OxyContin that alleges addiction and other harm from the pain medication cannot go forward as a class-action case.
Justice Stephen J. Maltese in the Supreme Court of the State of New York for Richmond County said the case doesn't meet the criteria of a class action because addiction is an individual injury, not a common one.
"[This case presents] important individual issues, and to lump all of those issues together would be inappropriate for all of the parties involved," Maltese wrote.
This marks the ninth written opinion in a state or federal court to reject requests for class-action status in lawsuits that patients or their families have filed against Purdue Pharma over the past four years.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/02/21/prbf0221.htm.
