Sherry Walker v. Medtronic, Incorporated

670 F.3d 569, 2012 WL 208036, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 1334
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 25, 2012
Docket10-2219
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 670 F.3d 569 (Sherry Walker v. Medtronic, Incorporated) 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
Sherry Walker v. Medtronic, Incorporated, 670 F.3d 569, 2012 WL 208036, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 1334 (4th Cir. 2012).

Opinions

OPINION

DUNCAN, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Sherry Walker appeals from the district court’s holding that her common law tort claims against Medtronic, Inc. are preempted by the Medical Device Amendments of 1976 (“MDA”), as interpreted by Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., 552 U.S. 312, 128 S.Ct. 999, 169 L.Ed.2d 892 (2008). Walker argues that, because the device in question allegedly failed to operate in accordance with the terms of its premarket approval, her claims parallel federal requirements and therefore should avoid preemption. In light of Walker’s concession that the device was designed, manufactured, and distributed in compliance with the terms of its premarket approval, given by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) as required under the MDA, however, we are compelled to affirm.

The exclusive provisions of the FDA regulatory process recognize only one mechanism for the creation of an enforceable requirement governing the ongoing performance of a medical device, and that is through the establishment of a formal performance standard. Walker concedes that no such performance ' standard was created here. This concession makes clear that her common law claims seek to impose requirements above and beyond those of the FDA, thus bringing them within the [572]*572category expressly preempted by the MDA. To hold otherwise would be to undermine the balance Congress struck when it enacted the MDA, in which it determined that the benefit to the many of bringing potentially lifesaving, but risky, medical devices to the public following the rigorous process of FDA approval outweighed the cost to the few of preempting common law claims based on different standards.

I.

A.

In 1976, Congress passed the Medical Device Amendments, 21 U.S.C. § 360c et seq., in order to “impose! ] a regime of detailed federal oversight” to govern medical devices. Riegel, 552 U.S. at 316, 128 S.Ct. 999. It did so in response to mounting concern following the highly publicized controversy surrounding the Daikon Shield intrauterine device, which “demonstrated the inability of the common law tort system to manage the risks associated with dangerous devices.” Id. at 315, 128 S.Ct. 999. As such, Congress intentionally “swept back some state obligations” in favor of uniform federal regulation. Id. at 316, 128 S.Ct. 999.

To that end, the MDA includes a provision expressly preempting state regulation of medical devices. It states in relevant part:

[N]o State or political subdivision of a State may establish or continue in effect with respect to a device intended for human use any requirement—
(1) which is different from, or in addition to, any requirement applicable under this chapter to the device, and
(2) which relates to the safety or effectiveness of the device or to any other matter included in a requirement applicable to the device under this chapter.

21 U.S.C. § 360k(a).

The MDA also establishes three classes of medical devices, organized according to the level of oversight required to ensure their safety. Class I devices are those for which general controls, such as labeling requirements, “are sufficient to provide reasonable assurance of [their] safety and effectiveness.” 21 U.S.C. § 360c(a)(1)(A)(i). They include such things as “elastic bandages and examination gloves” and are “subject to the lowest level of oversight.” Riegel, 552 U.S. at 316, 128 S.Ct. 999. Class II devices include “such devices as powered wheelchairs and surgical drapes,” id., and are subject to heightened oversight mechanisms, such as “performance standards [and] postmarket surveillance,” 21 U.S.C. § 360c(a)(1)(B).

Class III devices require the highest level of federal oversight. Class III devices are those for which the general controls regulating Class I devices and the specific controls that regulate Class II devices are deemed insufficient to ensure safety and effectiveness, and that are either useful in “supporting or sustaining human life or for a use which is of substantial importance in preventing impairment of human health” or that “present[] a potential unreasonable risk of illness or injury.” Id. at § 360e(a)(1)(C). Because of the risks associated with them, Class III devices are required to go through premarket approval “to provide reasonable assurance of [their] safety and effectiveness.” Id.

“Premarket approval is a rigorous process.” Riegel, 552 U.S. at 317, 128 S.Ct. 999 (internal quotation marks omitted). To obtain pre-market approval, a device manufacturer must submit to the FDA full reports of all investigations relating to the [573]*573device’s safety or effectiveness; a “full statement of the components, ingredients, and properties and of the principle or principles of operation” of the device; a full description of the manufacturing methods and the facilities and controls used for the device’s manufacturing; references to any performance standards applicable to the device; samples of the device and any component parts; examples of the proposed labeling for the device; and other information as requested. 21 U.S.C. § 360e(e)(1). This typically requires a “multivolume application.” Riegel, 552 U.S. at 317, 128 S.Ct. 999.

The FDA reviews these applications, approving only those it has determined provide reasonable assurance of a device’s safety and effectiveness. It “spends an average of 1,200 hours reviewing each application.” Id. at 318, 128 S.Ct. 999. If the FDA deems it necessary, it may refer an application to a panel of experts “for study and for submission of a report and recommendation respecting approval of the application, together with all underlying data and the reasons or basis for the recommendation.” 21 U.S.C. § 360e(c)(3). The FDA’s final grant of pre-market approval is based on “weighing any probable benefit to health from the use of [a] device against any probable risk of injury or illness from such use.” Id. at § 360c(a)(2)(C). “It may thus approve devices that present great risks if they nonetheless offer great benefits in light of available alternatives.” Riegel, 552 U.S. at 318, 128 S.Ct. 999.

The FDA may condition its grant of premarket approval upon certain requirements. Significantly for our purposes, the FDA may require that a device meet certain performance standards if it “determines that a performance standard is necessary to provide reasonable assurance of the safety and effectiveness of the device.” 21 U.S.C. § 360d(a)(1).

The establishment of a performance standard is a formal process specifically governed by the MDA.

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Bluebook (online)
670 F.3d 569, 2012 WL 208036, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 1334, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sherry-walker-v-medtronic-incorporated-ca4-2012.