Anderson v. American Home Products Corp.

220 F. Supp. 2d 414, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16211
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 13, 2002
DocketNos. MDL 1203, Civ.A. 01-20182, Civ.A. 02-20098, Civ.A. 02-20107
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 220 F. Supp. 2d 414 (Anderson v. American Home Products Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. American Home Products Corp., 220 F. Supp. 2d 414, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16211 (E.D. Pa. 2002).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND PRETRIAL ORDER NO. 2567

BARTLE, District Judge.

Before the court is the motion of plaintiffs in Anderson v. American Home Products Corp., Civ. A. No. 01-20182, to remand to the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans, Louisiana, and the motions of plaintiffs in Ashley v. American Home Products Corp., Civ. A. No. 02-20098, and Castal v. American Home Products Corp., Civ. A. No. 02-20107, to remand to the Circuit Courts of Sunflower County and Coahoma County, Mississippi, respectively. The motions are before the undersigned as the transferee judge in MDL 1203, the mass tort litigation involving the diet drugs known as fen-phen. No federal claim for relief is alleged in any of these complaints.

The Anderson action was initially instituted in the state court in Louisiana by Louisiana citizens against various defendants including American Home Products Corporation (“AHP”), which is incorporated in Delaware with its principal place of business in New Jersey.1 In brief sum[418]*418mary, the complaint alleges that the plaintiffs have suffered severe injuries, including valvular heart disease (“VHD”), pulmonary hypertension, and neurotoxicity, due to their ingestion of the drugs Pondimin, Redux, and phentermine. In the beginning the only plaintiffs in the action were individuals who had initially opted out of the Nationwide Class Action Settlement Agreement with American Home Products Corporation (“Settlement Agreement”).

On June 5, 2001 the petition for intervention of 50 more Louisiana citizens (“Age plaintiffs”)2 in the Anderson action was granted by a Louisiana state court judge. These plaintiffs are intermediate opt-outs under the Settlement Agreement. The petition named as defendants AHP, three Louisiana physicians, and eight manufacturers of phentermine products (“phentermine defendants”), all eight of which are of diverse citizenship from plaintiffs.3 On July 12, 2001 AHP filed a notice of removal in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana as to the Age plaintiffs. Removal was based on the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651. The original plaintiffs are no longer in the case, and all parties agree that the claims of the Age plaintiffs are deemed to be separate from those of the original plaintiffs.

On July 13, 2001 the Age plaintiffs then filed a motion for remand under 28 U.S.C. § 1446 as well as a motion for summary remand under 28 U.S.C. § 1446(c)(4). The plaintiffs maintain that remand is appropriate because all defendants have not consented to removal and because complete diversity does not exist as required under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a). The federal court in Louisiana did not rule on the motions before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (“JPML”) transferred the case to this court. On January 24, 2002, the Age plaintiffs filed a new motion to remand with this court. On April 5, 2002, AHP filed a supplemental notice of removal. The Age plaintiffs also filed an amended motion to remand on May 6, 2002, to which AHP responded on July 9, 2002.

We also have before us similar remand motions in Ashley and Castal, two actions originally filed in the state courts of Mississippi. Ashley was filed on behalf of two Mississippi citizens on October 8, 2001 in the Circuit Court of Sunflower County. On that same day, two other Mississippi citizens filed Castal in the Circuit Court of Coahoma County. The Ashley and Castal complaints make similar allegations against AHP and the phentermine defendants of harm suffered due to the use of Pondimin, Redux, and phentermine. Each also makes claims against a Mississippi pharmacy and three sales representatives of AHP who are citizens of Mississippi.

AHP removed both actions to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi under the authority of the All Writs Act and on the basis of diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C § 1332. The plaintiffs in each case moved to remand the cases pursuant to 28 U.S.C § 1447(c). They contend that removal was inappropriate because all defendants did not consent and because several of the defendants are Mississippi citizens. The federal court in Mississippi declined to rule on the motions, pending a decision by the JPML as to whether the cases should be transferred [419]*419here. Upon the JPML’s transfer of the cases to this court, the plaintiffs reasserted their remand motions.

AHP has now withdrawn its argument that these actions are properly removed under the All Writs Act and relies solely on 28 U.S.C. § 1441. AHP maintains that it is the only proper defendant and that diversity exists between it and all plaintiffs in Anderson, Ashley, and Castal.4 AHP further asserts that the phentermine defendants, which have diverse citizenship from plaintiffs and which have not consented to removal, were fraudulently joined and thus their lack of consent to removal is immaterial. According to AHP, the Louisiana medical doctor defendants in Anderson, and the Mississippi pharmacy and sales representative defendants in Ashley and Castal should be disregarded because they too are the subject of fraudulent joinder.

AHP originally argued that the intervention of 50 additional plaintiffs in Anderson violated the terms of the court approved Settlement Agreement on the ground that the Agreement prohibits numerous plaintiffs in one action. This issue, however, is now moot because the parties have stipulated that, regardless of the disposition of the motion to remand, each Age plaintiff will sever his or her claims into separate civil actions and file a new complaint. We will therefore proceed with our analysis as if each plaintiff in Anderson has filed a separate action.

I.

Under the federal removal statute, “any civil action brought in a state court of which the district courts of the United States have original jurisdiction, may be removed by the defendant or defendants, to the district court.” 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a). Federal district courts have original jurisdiction over all civil actions between citizens of different states if the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs. 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1). If an action originally instituted in a state court could have been brought in federal court pursuant to diversity jurisdiction, the defendants may remove it to federal court provided certain procedures are followed and certain conditions met. 28 U.S.C. §§

Related

Carl Legg v. Wyeth
428 F.3d 1317 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
In Re Diet Drugs Products Liability Litigation
294 F. Supp. 2d 667 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 2003)
Weaver v. American Home Products Corp.
294 F. Supp. 2d 667 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
220 F. Supp. 2d 414, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-american-home-products-corp-paed-2002.