Harris v. Purdue Pharma, L.P.

218 F.R.D. 590, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20097, 2003 WL 22669248
District Court, S.D. Ohio·Decided September 30, 2003·No. No. 1:01-CV-00428·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

ORDER

SPIEGEL, Senior District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motion for National Class Certification (doc. 70), Abbott Defendants’ Response in Opposition (doc. 92), Purdue Defendants’ Response in Opposition (doc. 93), and Plaintiffs’ Reply (doc. 96). The Court held a hearing in this matter on September 18, 2003.

I. Background

This case concerns OxyContin, a federally controlled Schedule II prescription medication, approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the relief of moderate to severe pain. The drug is manufactured by Defendants Purdue Pharma L.P., Purdue Pharma, Inc., the Purdue Frederick Company, (collectively, hereinafter, “Purdue”) and eo-promoted by Defendants Abbott Laboratories and Abbott Laboratories, Inc. (hereinafter, “Abbott”). Plaintiffs allege that in marketing and promoting OxyContin to physicians, Defendants misrepresented and downplayed risks of addiction (doc. 70). Second, Plaintiffs argue that OxyContin’s controlled-release mechanism was defectively designed in that it fails to deliver consistent and sufficient amounts of oxycodone for the 12-hour dosing period established by Defendants, with resulting fluctuations in oxycodone dispersal exacerbating the risk of addiction (Id.). Third, Plaintiffs argue that Defendants promoted OxyContin by targeting “opioid naive physicians and patients for sales” (Id.).1 As a part of this negligent or over-promotion argument, Plaintiffs state that Defendants could have designed the drug with a narcotic antagonist that would prevent the crushing of the tablet to bypass the controlled-release mechanism and provide an immediate “high” to abusers. Plaintiffs exclusively seek injunctive relief in the form of a medical and prescription monitoring program for patients prescribed OxyContin, in order to prevent or to mitigate addiction. Plaintiffs presently seek certification of the following class under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23:

All citizens of the United States who received a prescription for OxyContin and are at risk of addiction as a result, but whom are not presently personal injury claimants or who do not presently have personal injury claims (doc. 77).

II. Class Certification Under Fed. R.Civ.P. 23

The class action serves to conserve the resources of the Court and the parties by permitting an issue that may affect every class member to be litigated in an economical fashion. General Telephone Co. of Southwest v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 155, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982). The certification of a class action is governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, pursuant to which there are four prerequisites:

One or more members of a class may sue or be sued as representative parties on behalf of all only if:(l) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable, (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class, (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims of the class, and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.

Although Rule 23(a)(2) refers to common questions of law or fact, in the plural, there need only be one question common to the class-though that question must be a [593]*593“common issue the resolution of which will advance the litigation.” Alkire v. Irving, 330 F.3d 802, 820 (6th Cir.2003) (citing Sprague v. Gen. Motors Corp., 133 F.3d 388 (6th Cir.1998)) (en banc), and Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 623, 117 S.Ct. 2231, 138 L.Ed.2d 689 (1997). Ultimately, the class may only be certified if, “after rigorous analysis,” the district court is satisfied that these prerequisites have been met. Gen. Tel. Co. v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 161, 102 S.Ct. 2364, 72 L.Ed.2d 740 (1982). The burden is on the plaintiff “to establish his right” for class certification. Senter v. General Motors Corp., 532 F.2d 511, 522 (6th Cir.1976).

If the Plaintiffs can establish the four prerequisites for class certification found in Rule 23(a), numerosity, commonality, typicality, and representativeness, then they must show that, in addition, they satisfy one of the three types of class actions found in Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b). A type I class action under 23(b) is appropriate when separate actions would create incompatible standards of conduct for the party opposing the class, or when the interests of members not parties to the litigation would be impeded by individual adjudications. Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(1). A type II class action requires that the plaintiff seek primarily injunctive or declaratory relief. Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(2). A type III class action requires that common questions of law or fact predominate over any issues affecting only individual members and therefore a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy. Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(3).

Plaintiffs in this case argue that their proposed class meets the four prerequisites of Rule 23(a). They further posit that their class can be certified as type I or II under Rule 23(b)(1)(A) and 23(b)(2), to obtain equitable relief in the form of a national medical and prescription monitoring program.

III. Discussion

A. Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification (doc. 70)

Plaintiffs argue that they meet the Rule 23(a) prerequisites as follows:

1) Numerosity. Based on “millions of prescriptions sold” since its introduction in the market, Plaintiffs argue they have established numerosity (doc. 70). Plaintiffs state that 1.8 million people were treated with OxyContin in the year 2000 (Id.). Plaintiffs state that their expert says that between seven and twenty-eight percent of people prescribed the drug are at risk of addiction (Id.). Plaintiffs argue that it can be inferred that “such a serious epidemic evidences the fact that the number of class members will be in the thousands” (Id.).

2) Commonality. Plaintiffs argue that the class was subject to a common course of conduct by Defendants and proffer three central factual issues and three central legal issues (Id.).

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Harris v. Purdue Pharma, L.P., 218 F.R.D. 590, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20097, 2003 WL 22669248 (S.D. Ohio 2003).

218 F.R.D. 590 (Harris v. Purdue Pharma, L.P.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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