Allergan's Breast Implants Class Claims Dismissal Failed

Introduction

On March 19, U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti, presiding over the federal Allergan Biocell breast implants litigation, ruled that Allergan, Inc. must face manufacturing defect, negligence per se, and other claims as they were not preempted.

According to a 121-page opinion, which was a response to the company's dismissal motion, Judge Martinotti tossed failure-to-warn claims and other allegations on preemption grounds but rejected the bid to knock out the class allegations over the Biocell textured breast implants.

The company had filed a supplemental brief on January 5 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, asking the federal judge to dismiss claims against its breast implants on the grounds that the consolidated lawsuits are preempted by federal law.

The federal judge concluded that the claims asserted by the named plaintiffs and putative class members stem from the same course of conduct of Allergan, which shares an aligned interest in seeking damages from the company.

The company failed in its attempt to toss the manufacturing defect claims after the judge asserted that the claims are not preempted and should not be dismissed.

In July 2019, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had asked Allergan to recall its Biocell textured implants, which covered 246,831 implants in the U.S.

Currently, Allergan is facing hundreds of product liability lawsuits and class action lawsuits over its breast implants, each claiming that the textured design was unreasonably dangerous and defective, and the manufacturer knew that it increased the risk of breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) yet failed to warn about those risks.

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