Montgomery v. Wyeth

580 F.3d 455, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 19386, 2009 WL 2633233
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedAugust 28, 2009
Docket08-5701
StatusPublished
Cited by84 cases

This text of 580 F.3d 455 (Montgomery v. Wyeth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Montgomery v. Wyeth, 580 F.3d 455, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 19386, 2009 WL 2633233 (6th Cir. 2009).

Opinions

SUHRHEINRICH, J, delivered the opinion of the court, in which GILMAN, J., joined. WHITE, J. (pp. 468-70), delivered a separate opinion concurring in the affirmance.

OPINION

SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff Angela Montgomery sued Defendants Wyeth, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Wyeth, and AHP Subsidiary Holding Corporation, also a subsidiary of Wyeth, after she developed primary pulmonary hypertension (“PPH”), a serious, debilitating, and usually fatal disease, from ingesting “Fenphen,” a combination diet drug therapy that included Defendant Wyeth’s diet drug, Pondimin.1 The district court held that Montgomery’s claim was barred by Tennessee’s statute of repose, which requires that an action “be brought within one (1) year after the expiration of the anticipated life of the product.” Tenn.Code Ann. § 29-28-103(a) (“TSOR”).2 Montgomery appeals.

[458]*458I. Background

The FDA approved the sale of the Pondimin brand of fenfluramine 20 mg tablets as a prescription weight loss medication in 1973. Pondimin 20 mg tablets were manufactured in Richmond, Virginia, and distributed by Wyeth to pharmacies and wholesalers in 100-count and 500-count stock bottles. The expiration date for Pondimin 20 mg tablets was three years from the month of manufacture of each lot. The expiration date was printed on a label affixed to each stock bottle. Wyeth did not sell Pondimin 20 mg tablets directly to consumers. Instead the tablets were packaged by third parties. The product was withdrawn from the market in September 1997.

Montgomery began taking Pondimin in 1997. A Tennessee resident, Montgomery traveled to the Med-X Clinic in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, to receive treatment and prescriptions of Pondimin, which was not available in Tennessee at that time. Montgomery received her first treatment in January 1997 and went to Georgia at least eight times during 1997. Each time, she was evaluated by a Georgia physician. She was prescribed, and purchased, Pondimin on seven of those visits. Montgomery saw three doctors: Dr. Merton Sure, who has since died; Dr. David Hargett, who lost his medical license in January 2001; and Dr. Joyce Gray.

Pondimin became available in Tennessee as of March 26, 1997. Wyeth voluntarily withdrew Pondimin from the market on September 15, 1997, and did not manufacture, package, or distribute it after that time. Montgomery stopped using Pondimin in August 1997.

In December 1997, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation established MDL No. 1203 in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for consolidated proceedings relating to a wave of litigation involving Pondimin, Redux, and phentermine. See In re Diet Drugs, Nos. 1203, 99-20593, 2000 WL 1222042, at *1 (E.D.Pa. Aug.28, 2000) (“PTO 1415”). On October 7, 1999, the numerous parties to the action reached an understanding of the principal terms of the settlement in a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”). Id. at *5. On October 12,1999, a class action styled Brown v. Wyeth was filed on behalf of all users of Pondimin and Redux, in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and became part of MDL 1203. Id., at * 19. Montgomery is a member of the Brown class. On November 18, 1999, the parties executed a Nationwide Class Action Settlement Agreement (“Settlement Agreement”), which included the Brown class members. On August 28, 2000, the district court entered PTO 1415, which certified the class and approved the Settlement Agreement. See id.

Montgomery was not diagnosed with PPH until April 2005. She filed the present action in Tennessee state court in October 2005, within six months after being diagnosed. The case was removed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, transferred to the MDL for pretrial proceedings in February 2006, and then remanded to the district court in July 2007. Defendants moved for summary judgment, alleging that Montgomery’s claim was barred by the TSOR because it had not been brought within one year of the expiration date of the product. The district court reluctantly agreed and granted summary judgment to Defendants on March 19, 2008. Specifically, the court concluded that the TSOR applied to Montgomery’s claim under Tennessee’s eonflict-of-laws rules, the Settlement Agreement did not preserve her right to sue for PPH, Tennessee law rath[459]*459er than Georgia law applied, and Wyeth did not waive its statute of repose defense. See Montgomery v. Wyeth, 540 F.Supp.2d 933 (E.D.Tenn.2008). The court also denied Montgomery’s Rule 59 motion to alter or amend judgment. This appeal followed.

II. Analysis

This Court reviews a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. Gribcheck v. Runyon, 245 F.3d 547, 550 (6th Cir.2001). Summary judgment is proper if “the pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c).

A. Choice of Law

Montgomery argues that the district court erred in applying Tennessee law because the relevant choice-of-law principles dictate that Georgia law should govern. As noted, the district court held that the TSOR barred Montgomery’s claim. There is a conflict because Georgia’s statute of repose, which limits claims only after ten years, would not bar her claim. See Ga.Code Ann. § 51-1-11 (West 2008) (stating that “[n]o action shall be commenced pursuant to this subsection with respect to an injury after ten years from the date of the first sale for use or consumption of the personal property causing or otherwise bringing about the injury”).

Because this is a diversity action, the law of the forum state, including the choice-of-law rules, apply. Uhl v. Komatsu Forklift Co., 512 F.3d 294, 302 (6th Cir.2008). Tennessee follows the “most significant relationship” approach of the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws to choice-of-law questions. Hataway v. McKinley, 830 S.W.2d 53, 59 (Tenn.1992). Under this approach, “the law of the state where the injury occurred will be applied unless some other state has a more significant relationship to the litigation.” Id. at 59.3 Tennessee adopted this position “because generally the law of the state where the injury occurred will have the most significant relationship to the litigation.” Id. Thus, the most significant relationship “provides a ‘default’ rule whereby trial courts can apply the law of the place where the injury occurred when each state has an almost equal relationship to the litigation.” Id.

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580 F.3d 455, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 19386, 2009 WL 2633233, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montgomery-v-wyeth-ca6-2009.