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boutons_deux
06-25-2013, 05:39 AM
Generic Drug Companies Get Even More Immunity From The Roberts Five (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/24/2206411/generic-drug-companies-get-even-more-immunity-from-the-roberts-five/)


Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling immunizing drug companies from lawsuit (http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-142_8njq.pdf) for egregious injuries wasn’t terribly surprising for those who have been following along. Two years ago, in a case called PLIVA v. Mensing, the U.S. Supreme Court held that generic drug companies were largely immune from lawsuits alleging their failure to warn of harmful consequences. On Monday, in a 5-4 ruling along ideological lines, the court extended this holding to apply to other types of claims against generic drug manufacturers, and held that a federal statute precluded suit by a woman who incurred burns on 60 percent of her body (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/24/us-usa-court-generics-idUSBRE95N0RC20130624) and was rendered legally blind by an alleged drug defect.

This ruling was a predictable addition to the line of cases immunizing big business from liability, but it was not an inevitable follow-up to PLIVA

As has been a frequent practice by the Roberts Court (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/04/27/176997/scotus-nukes-consumers/), the five-justice majority found that federal law trumped state law protecting patients, over protestations from the four dissenting justices that both federal and state law could co-exist. Interpreting a federal law requirement that generic drug companies simply follow the warnings and design of the brand name drug, the court held that generic companies cannot be held liable for its flaws. This means that a generic company that distributes a dangerous product has no obligation to simply stop selling that drug, and can go on dispensing the potentially dangerous substance with immunity. As Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent, the court justified its holding through “an implicit and undefended assumption that federal law gives pharmaceutical companies a right to sell a federally approved drug free from common-law liability.”

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/24/2206411/generic-drug-companies-get-even-more-immunity-from-the-roberts-five/

yawn, VRWC SCOTUS political hacks protect/enrich Corporate-Americans over and against Human-Americans.

Avoid ALL BigPharma shit. All of it has side effects, and almost all of it is ineffective and "supported" by BigPharma's own research and studies where negative results are suppressed, hidden.

boutons_deux
06-25-2013, 05:49 AM
Supreme Court Ruled In Favor Of America’s Top Corporate Lobbying Group In 13 of 16 Cases This Term (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/24/2205241/supreme-court-ruled-in-favor-of-americas-top-corporate-lobbying-group-in-13-of-16-cases-this-term/)


Earlier today, the Supreme Court handed three big victories to big corporations seeking immunity from the law, and equally substantial defeats to American workers and consumers. In a pair of workplace civil rights decisions, the Court made it easier for many bosses to get away with sexual or racial harassment (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/24/2202021/how-the-supreme-court-stomped-on-workers-rights-today/), and it eased the path for many companies that retaliate against workers who claim they are victims of discrimination. Additionally, the Court held a generic drug manufacturer whose product allegedly caused burns over half a patient’s body (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/24/2202021/how-the-supreme-court-stomped-on-workers-rights-today/) immune from a lawsuit that would have compensated this victim for her injuries. Notably, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s top business advocacy group, filed briefs on the victorious side in each of these cases.

Indeed, after today, the Chamber’s record before the Roberts Court is 13 wins and just 3 loses (http://theusconstitution.org/text-history/2077/big-business%E2%80%99s-big-day) this term. This marks a sharp increase in the Chamber’s win rate even as compared to prior terms before the conservative Roberts Court. A Constitutional Accountability Center study of the Chamber’s record before the justices from last month found that the Chamber won 69 percent of its cases before the Roberts Court (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/05/06/1960561/so-far-this-term-top-corporate-lobbys-win-rate-before-the-supreme-court-is-6-1/). That’s in contrast to a 56 percent win rate in front of the quite conservative, but comparatively more moderate, Rehnquist Court.

Notably the Court deferred so completely to the Chamber today that it adopted a harsh rule limiting sexual and racial harassment claims even though the attorney arguing that case on behalf of the defendant — a former Solicitor General under George W. Bush — would not endorse the rule himself while he was arguing the case (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/24/2200681/the-scariest-pending-supreme-court-case-that-youve-probably-never-heard-of/). So the five conservative justices sided with the Chamber even though no party before the Court agreed with the Chamber’s position.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/24/2205241/supreme-court-ruled-in-favor-of-americas-top-corporate-lobbying-group-in-13-of-16-cases-this-term/