Abbott v. American Cyanamid Co.

844 F.2d 1108, 98 A.L.R. Fed. 107, 1988 U.S. App. LEXIS 5083
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedApril 20, 1988
Docket87-1578
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 844 F.2d 1108 (Abbott v. American Cyanamid Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abbott v. American Cyanamid Co., 844 F.2d 1108, 98 A.L.R. Fed. 107, 1988 U.S. App. LEXIS 5083 (4th Cir. 1988).

Opinion

844 F.2d 1108

98 A.L.R.Fed. 107, Prod.Liab.Rep.(CCH)P 11,765

Tracy Isabel ABBOT, a minor who sues by her mother and next
friend Deborah ABBOT, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
AMERICAN CYANAMID CO., a Maine Corp., Defendant-Appellee,
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association; American Academy
of Family Physicians; United States of America,
Amici Curiae.

No. 87-1578.

United States Court of Appeals,
Fourth Circuit.

Argued Jan. 4, 1988.
Decided April 20, 1988.

Michael Hersch Gottesman (Barbara E. Bergman, David A. Sklansky, Cynthia L. Estlund, Deborah C. Malamud, Bredhoff & Kaiser, Washington, D.C., Anthony M. Colantoni, Martin Preiser; McDowell & Colantoni, Ltd., Chicago, Ill., Robert J. Zelnick; Szabo, McCarthy, Quito, Webb & Zelnick, Woodbridge, Va., on brief), for plaintiff-appellant.

Lloyd Norton Cutler (James Robertson, Ronald J. Greene, Michael Stevenson, Robert C. Longstreth, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, Edwin A. Williams, Kellogg, Williams & Lyons, Washington, D.C., on brief), for defendant-appellee.

Ronald E. Robertson, Gen. Counsel, Dept. of Health & Human Services, Catherine C. Lorraine, Associate Chief Counsel, Washington, D.C., for Enforcement, Food & Drug Admin.

Richard K. Willard, Asst. Atty. Gen. (John F. Cordes, Irene M. Solet, Appellate Staff, Civ. Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., on brief), for amicus curiae U.S.

Richard F. Kingham, Bruce N. Kuhlik, Covington & Burling (Bruce J. Brennan, Edwin C. Mulcahy, Washington, D.C., Pharmaceutical Mfrs. Ass'n, on brief), for amicus curiae Pharmaceutical Mfrs. Ass'n in support of defendant-appellee.

Gerald W. Gorman, John A. Vering, III (Dietrich, Davis, Dicus, Rowlands, Schmitt & Gorman, Kansas City, Mo., on brief), for amicus curiae American Academy of Family Physicians in support of defendant-appellee.

Before MURNAGHAN, SPROUSE, and WILKINS, Circuit Judges.

MURNAGHAN, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff, Tracy Abbot, whose name throughout is sometimes inconsistently spelled as "Abbott", is a four year old child suffering neurologic injuries. She alleges that they result from inoculation in August 1983 of Tri-Immunol, a diptheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine manufactured by Lederle Laboratories, a division of defendant American Cyanamid Co. Plaintiff brought suit under three counts: (1) strict liability, (2) breach of implied warranty of merchantability and (3) negligence. In the course of the summary judgment proceedings, plaintiff limited her claims to: (1) breach of warranty in two manners (a) failure to warn and (b) defective design, and (2) the tort of negligent design.

The district court granted summary judgment on all claims to defendant. First, it held that plaintiff's rights under state law were preempted by federal law. Second, the court granted judgment, on an alternate basis, to defendant on plaintiff's failure to warn claim because plaintiff's administering physician, who was a "learned intermediary," testified on deposition that the warnings were adequate.1. Whether federal law preempts imposition of state common law liability for defective design or failure to warn upon a manufacturer of a vaccine.

The doctrine of federal preemption of state law arises under the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution, art. VI, cl. 2. Preemption occurs in any of three manners: (1) Congress may pass a statute that by its express terms preempts state law, (2) Congress, though not expressly so stating, may imply that it is preempting state law by occupation of an entire field of regulation, so that no room is left for supplementary state regulation, (3) Congress may speak neither expressly nor impliedly of preemption, nonetheless state law is preempted to the extent it actually conflicts with federal law; such a conflict occurs when (a) compliance with both state and federal law is impossible or (b) when state law stands as an impediment to a federal purpose. Michigan Canners and Freezers Assoc. v. Agricultural Mktg. and Bargaining Bd., 467 U.S. 461, 469, 104 S.Ct. 2518, 2522-23, 81 L.Ed.2d 399 (1984).

Defendant discerns preemption of plaintiff's claims from the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. Secs. 201-300 (PHSA) and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. Secs. 301-392 (FDCA) of which the enactments both predate the regrettable 1983 incident. Defendant argues for preemption most strongly under manner 3(b), frustration of a federal purpose, its so-called narrow preemption argument, though it alternatively argues that manner 2 is satisfied also, its broad preemption argument. Defendant makes no argument that Congress, in the period relevant to the present case, has expressly displaced state law regarding vaccines. Plaintiff argues the contrary, that Congress has expressly provided the opposite, i.e., that state remedies apply. Plaintiff discerns the argument from the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, Pub. L. 99-660, 100 Stat. 3755 (1986), (1986 Act) and its legislative history.

In the 1986 Act, Congress created an administrative "no-fault" program to compensate children injured by vaccines. The 1986 Act directed that children would have access to state remedies but with certain restrictions for injuries resultant from vaccinations administered after the 1986 Act's effective date. The effective date of the pertinent provisions of the 1986 Act is the date of enactment of a special tax to finance the compensation program. The 1986 Act did not provide a funding tax, but part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (Budget Act) did. A manufacturers' excise tax was placed on certain vaccines to fund the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund. The Budget Act also contains the Vaccine Compensation Amendments of 1987 (1987 Act) that establish October 1, 1988 as the effective date for the compensation system and limitation upon state law for vaccinations occurring after that date.

Plaintiff's argument is anachronistic, for it uses subsequent legislation in construing the preemptive effect of the earlier, PHSA and FDCA, statutes. While anachronistic, the approach is not without support; the Supreme Court has on occasion found evidence of Congress' intent concerning a statute at the time of its enactment embodied in subsequent actions regarding the statute. Grove City College v. Bell, 465 U.S. 555, 567, 104 S.Ct. 1211, 1218, 79 L.Ed.2d 516 (1984). Since the 1986 Act is an amendment to the PHSA the exception might apply. We need not decide what effect the 1986 Act has, as plaintiff claims, for determining the preemptive intent of the PHSA and FDCA, for even without consideration of what we should draw from the allowance of state based actions in the 1986 Act, we conclude that, considering the PHSA and FDCA alone, Congress did not intend, either expressly or impliedly, to preempt state law.

Defendant's broad preemption theory is that pervasive federal regulation of vaccines reflects a federal purpose to occupy the field of vaccine design and labeling.

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Bluebook (online)
844 F.2d 1108, 98 A.L.R. Fed. 107, 1988 U.S. App. LEXIS 5083, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abbott-v-american-cyanamid-co-ca4-1988.