Obama’s Policies along with Supreme Court Decision, Affect Darvon Lawsuits

Since the United States Food and Drug Administration’s ban on propoxyphene in November 2010, the number of Darvon Lawsuits has grown in number. However the biggest changes in these lawsuits come from the change in presidency from George W. Bush to Barack Obama.

Under the Bush administration there was a push for federal preemption, or the precedence of federal law over state law, in regards to a citizen’s right to sue a company that caused him or her harm. This policy contradicts the United States constitution which says that federal law trumps state law whenever there is a conflict of the two. When President George W. Bush was in the presidential office, however, several federal agencies attempted to extend this principle to include not only federal law, but federal regulations, such as those implemented by the FDA. This practice claims that if a product won FDA (a federal agency) approval it basically carries the same weight in court as federal law. For example, in one Supreme Court decision, the Bush Administration argued that a patient injured by an exploding balloon catheter could not sue the manufacturer under state law because the device had been approved by the FDA. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the manufacturer.

This has changed when Barack Obama came into the office. As the law is being interpreted now state tort laws allow an individual harmed by corporate irresponsibility to sue for damages. This interpretation is crucial to Darvon Lawsuit filers. The precedence for the Darvon Lawsuits comes from Wyeth v. Levine, where a Vermont woman who took the drug Phenergan sued its manufacturer, the pharmaceutical company Wyeth, after her arm was amputated due to tissue damage. Ms. Levine claimed that Wyeth failed to provide ample warning for their drug Phenergan, and the Surpreme court sided again with Levine stating “Because a drug obtains FDA approval does not mean its manufacturer is absolved of the duty to sufficiently warn of its risk.”

This opens the door for Darvocet cases since the highest number of complaints for Darvon/Darvocet claim that Xanodyne did not give its consumers ample warning of the side effects of its drug. And now with the change in legal interpretation court dates for these cases are just a matter of time.