482 F. Supp. 2d 614

Terry BEARDEN v. WYETH, et al.

No. CIV.A. 05-4507.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

May 5, 2006.

*616Derek Braslow, Harris L. Pogust, Robert N. Wilkey, Cuneo, Pogust & Mason, LLP, Conshohocken, PA, Derek T. Bras-low, Sherman, Silverstein, Kohl, Rose and Podolsky, Pennsauken, NJ, for Terry Bearden.

Amber B. Shushan, Jones Day, Atlanta, GA, David B. Alden, Mark Herrmann, Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue, Cleveland, OH, Reetu Dandora, Reed Smith LLP, Philadelphia, PA, for Wyeth, et al.

ORDER

DALZELL, District Judge.

AND NOW, this 5th day of May, 2006, upon consideration of the parties’ joint stipulation of facts, defendants’ motion to dismiss and for summary judgment1 (docket entry #33), plaintiffs re*617sponse thereto, and defendant’s reply, attached to its motion for leave to file reply (docket entry #35), and the Court finding that:

(a) In defendants’ previous motion to dismiss, they contended that the laws of Arkansas, not Pennsylvania, apply and that certain claims must therefore be dismissed;

(b) Plaintiff disagreed about the applicable law, so to resolve the dispute and determine which claims could proceed, we ordered the parties to conduct limited discovery pertaining to the choice of law question and then submit a joint stipulation of facts addressing the material factors, see Order of Feb. 6, 2006;

(c) They did so, and we now incorporate by reference that stipulation and address the renewed motion, which defendants have styled as a motion to dismiss Counts I, II, and XIII, and a motion for summary judgment seeking dismissal of the Pennsylvania substantive law claims;

(d) Because the parties conducted discovery on the choice of law issue and subsequently submitted new briefs incorporating what they learned through discovery and stating the standards for motions made pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) and 56, we shall treat this as a summary judgment motion only with respect to the narrow choice of law question, and after determining which law applies, we will consider whether the complaint states claims for which relief may be granted under that law;2

(e) We first must decide which state’s substantive law controls, and to do that we look to the choice of law rules of our forum state, Pennsylvania, see Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Electric Mfg. Co., 313 U.S. 487, 496, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 85 L.Ed. 1477 (1941);

(f) After determining whether there is a conflict between the states’ laws, we engage in “an ‘interest analysis’ of the policies of all interested states and then— based on the result of that analysis — characterize the case as a true conflict, false conflict, or unprovided-for case,” see Budget Rent-A-Car System, Inc. v. Chappell, 407 F.3d 166, 170 (3d Cir.2005); see also Lacey v. Cessna Aircraft Co., 932 F.2d 170, 187 & n. 15 (3d Cir.1991); LeJeune v. Bliss-Salem, Inc., 85 F.3d 1069, 1071 (3d Cir.1996);

(g) A true conflict exists “when the governmental interests of both jurisdictions would be impaired if their law were not applied,” Lacey, 932 F.2d at 187 n. 15, a false conflict exists “if only one jurisdiction’s governmental interests would be impaired by the application of the other jurisdiction’s law,” id., at 187, and an “unprovided-for case arises when no jurisdiction’s interests would be impaired if its *618laws were not applied,” Budget, 407 F.3d at 170;3

(h)Defendants’ brief sets forth the substantive differences between the laws of Arkansas and Pennsylvania with respect to all of plaintiffs thirteen counts,4 see Defs.’ Mem. 3-6, and plaintiff expressly “agrees with Defendant Wyeth’s comparison of the various areas of pertinent law,” Pl.’s Mem. 4;

(i) The parties further agree that the results here could differ depending on which state’s law are applied — meaning there is undisputedly a conflict between the laws — and that this is a true conflict, see Defs.’ Mem. 7-9; Pl.’s Mem. 4;

(j) Because the interests of Pennsylvania and Arkansas would each be impaired if its laws were not applied, this case indeed presents a true conflict;5

*619(k) In true conflict cases, Pennsylvania choice of law rules “call for the application of the law of the state having the most significant contacts or relationships with the particular issue,” and this determination is made not by “a mere counting of contacts,” but rather by a qualitative analysis, In re Estate of Agostini, 311 Pa.Super. 233, 457 A.2d 861, 871 (1983); see also Cipolla v. Shaposka, 439 Pa. 563, 267 A.2d 854, 856 (1970) (“The weight of a particular state’s contacts must be measured on a qualitative rather than quantitative scale.”);

(l) In other words, the relevant inquiry is “the extent to which one state rather than another has demonstrated, by reason of its policies and their connection and relevance to the matter in dispute, a priority of interest in the application of its rule of law,” Troxel v. A.I. duPont Institute, 431 Pa.Super. 464, 636 A.2d 1179, 1181 (1994) (citation omitted);

(m)To make this assessment, the Pennsylvania courts use “a methodology which is a combination of the ‘government interest’ analysis and the ‘significant relationship’ approach of Section 145 of the Restatement (Second) of Conflicts,” id. at 1180;

(n) Relevant considerations include:
(a) the needs of the interstate and international systems, (b) the relevant policies of the forum, (c) the relevant policies of other interested states and the relative interests of those states in the determination of the particular issue, (d) the protection of justified expectations, (e) the basic policies underlying the particular field of law, (f) certainty, predictability and uniformity of result, and (g) ease in the determination and application of the law to be applied.

Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 6(2) (1971);

(o) The “[cjontacts to be taken into account in applying [these] principles” include:

(a) the place where the injury occurred, (b) the place where the conduct causing the injury occurred, (c) the domicile, residence, nationality, place of incorporation and place of business of the parties, and (d) the place where the rela*620tionship, if any, between the parties is centered.

Id. § 145(2);

(р) We now review the relevant contacts to which the parties stipulated:

(a) Arkansas is the state in which plaintiffs decedent (1) lived and maintained residency for several years before his death; (2) received all medical care associated with his depression, including his prescription for Effexor XR; (3) purchased Effexor XR; (4) received any representations, express warranties, or warnings concerning Effexor XR; (5) experienced any reactions to Effexor XR; and (6) committed suicide, see Stip. of Facts I ¶¶ a-b, e-n;
(b) Decedent’s estate is also administered in Arkansas and his administratrix is an Arkansas resident, see id. I ¶¶ c-d;
(с) Both Wyeth and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wyeth, are Delaware corporations, and Wyeth’s principal place of business is in New Jersey, see id. II ¶¶ a-e;
(d) Regarding Pennsylvania contacts, it is: (i) the state in which Wyeth Pharmaceuticals’ divisional headquarters and principal place of business are located; (2) the state from which any representations, express warranties, or warnings concerning Effexor XP were issued; (2) and the state where the following departments, which employed personnel primarily responsible for Effexor XP, are headquartered: Research and Development, Regulatory Affairs, Global Safety Surveillance and Epidemiology, Global Medical Affairs and Global Medical Safety, Sales and Marketing Operations Team, Clinical Division, Regulatory Affairs, see id. I ¶¶ k-1, II ¶¶ c, f, h-n;
(e) Any Effexor XR decedent used was manufactured in New York and/or Puer-to Rico, see id. II ¶ g;
(f)Effexor XR’s clinical trials were conducted throughout North America and other continents, see id. II ¶ o;

(q) With respect to the contacts relevant under the Restatement, first, the fact that Arkansas was the place of injury — and not merely a “fortuitous” one as plaintiff contends — is entitled to considerable weight, see Shields v. Consolidated Rail Corp., 810 F.2d 397, 401 (3d Cir.1987) (“where the place where the injury occurred was not fortuitous, as for example, in an airplane crash, the place of injury assumes much greater importance, and in some instances may be determinative”) (internal quotation and citation omitted);

(r) Second, conduct causing the injury occurred both in Pennsylvania, where Wyeth Pharmaceuticals conducted various activities concerning Effexor XR and from which it issued any representations, warranties, or warnings, and in Arkansas, where decedent and his doctor received any representations, warranties, or warnings about the drug, and where decedent was prescribed, bought, ingested, and was allegedly injured by the drug;

(s) Third, decedent was an Arkansas resident, as is plaintiff, and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals maintains a principal place of business in Pennsylvania, though both it and Wyeth are Delaware corporations and Wyeth’s principal place of business is in New Jersey;

(t) Fourth, the parties’ relationship was centered in decedent’s home state, where he purchased, ingested and allegedly was injured by Effexor XR, see Normann v. Johns-Manville Corp., 406 Pa.Super. 103, 593 A.2d 890, 894 (1991) (“the relationship between decedent and appellant was centered in New York, for the reason that decedent was exposed to appellant’s products only in New York”);

*621(u) Based on these facts and the state’s respective laws and policies, Pennsylvania has an interest in regulating the activities of one of the defendants, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a company that maintains a principal place of business within the Commonwealth and that conducted many of the activities concerning Effexor XP there;

(v) At the same time, Arkansas has an interest in ensuring protection and compensation for a resident who committed suicide within his home state allegedly, at least in part, because he purchased and ingested a drug there that had been prescribed by a local doctor, one who may or may not have made representations to decedent about the drug;

(w) Notably, in similar cases where the plaintiff was injured in his home state, both Pennsylvania state courts and federal courts applying Pennsylvania choice of law principles have refused to apply Pennsylvania substantive law;6

(x)For instance, in Giovanetti v. Johns-Manville Corp., 372 Pa.Super. 431, 539 A.2d 871 (1988), the court applied New Jersey law, finding that — even though defendants were Pennsylvania-based manufacturers and distributers of asbestos products and Pennsylvania therefore had a legitimate interest in regulating their activities — New Jersey’s contacts were more significant because (1) the defendants did business in New Jersey; (2) plaintiff was a New Jersey resident; (2) plaintiff worked in New Jersey for twenty-seven years and Pennsylvania for only two years; (3) plaintiff was injured on the job by defendants’ asbestos products; and (4) the parties’ relationship was centered in New Jersey, see id. at 873; see also Normann v. Johns-Manville Corp., 406 Pa.Super. 103, 593 A.2d 890, 894-95 (1991) *622(holding the trial court erred in applying Pennsylvania law because the Commonwealth’s policy of compensating its citizens for injuries caused by defective products and discouraging the manufacturing and distribution of those products was not implicated where the decedent was a New York resident when exposed to the asbestos products in New York, and the parties’ relationship was centered in New York); Lewis v. Bayer AG, 70 Pa. D. & C.4th 52, 78 (Pa.Ct.Com.Pl.2004) (applying the law of the state where the class member resided, was prescribed, ingested, and was injured by the drug in question);

(y) In another case involving the same defendants before us now,7 In re Diet Drugs, 1999 WL 673066, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13228 (E.D.Pa. Aug. 26, 1999), the court noted that “[the parent company’s] subsidiary, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories Division, has its principal offices in St. David’s Pennsylvania and many of [the parent company’s] activities regarding the drugs at issue occurred in Pennsylvania,” id. at 1999 WL 673066 *15, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13228 *41, but nevertheless applied the law of the state in which each class member’s claims arose;

(z) The court reasoned that the jurisdictions in which the drugs were “prescribed and ingested ... have a strong interest in applying their applicable law to the sale, prescription and ingestion of pharmaceuticals within its borders, which is the conduct which gave rise to the class members’ claims,” id. at 1999 WL 673066 *15-16, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13228 *42; cf. Henderson v. Merck & Co., Inc., No. 04-5987, 2005 WL 2600220, at *3-4 (E.D.Pa. Oct. 11, 2005) (Davis, J.) (noting that Pennsylvania’s interests were diminished because defendants were not its citizens, but applying Michigan’s product liability law because that was the state in which plaintiff lived, received the prescription, bought and ingested the drugs, and was injured);

(aa) After considering the contacts qualitatively, and in accordance with the jurisprudence discussed herein, we find that Arkansas has a greater interest in applying its laws to protect and provide redress for a citizen who was prescribed a drug, received any relevant representations or warnings about it, purchased it, ingested it, and was injured by it — all within his home state of Arkansas;

(bb) Applying Arkansas substantive law, the claims for negligent infliction of emotional distress (Count V), negligent misrepresentation (Count VII), negligence per se (Count XI), and the prayer for punitive damages in the consumer protection statute claim (Count XII) indubitably must be dismissed;

(cc) Accordingly, we shall also dismiss the Pennsylvania state law claims which plaintiff pled together with, and in the alternative to, their Arkansas counterparts — namely, the references to Pennsylvania law claims in Count I, Count II, and Count XII;8

(dd) Defendants further contend that the stand-alone claims for wrongful death (Count I), brought pursuant to Ark.Code Ann. § 16-62-102,9 and a survival action *623(Count II), brought pursuant to Ark.Code Ann. § 16-62-101,10 should be dismissed under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(f) because they fail to state different substantive legal theories or independent claims that are not covered in Counts III through XIII;

(ee) As one court examining these statutes explained:

It is quite clear that actions for survivor-ship and actions for wrongful death are separate and distinct in nature.... In a survival action, the administrator asserts the decedent’s own cause of action, and only the administrator may bring this cause of action. The wrongful death statute, on the other hand, creates a cause of action in the survivors, and it may be brought by the administrator in their behalf, or by the heirs themselves if there is no administrator.

First Commercial Bank. N.A., Little Rock, Ark. v. United States, 727 F.Supp. 1300, 1302 (W.D.Ark.1990) (citations omitted);

(ff) Since plaintiff asserts the decedent’s causes of action through various counts of the complaint, her separate survival action count is unwarranted, and we shall dismiss Count II;

(gg) However, with respect to the wrongful death count, defendants have not pointed to any legal authority suggesting that Arkansas disallows such a claim to proceed along with other statutory and common-law claims, and, in fact, Arkansas courts regularly allow this, see, e.g., Health Facilities Management Corp. v. Hughes, -S.W.3d-, 365 Ark. 237 (2006) (jury rendered verdict on four separate counts: wrongful death, common-law negligence, statutory negligence, and statutory resident’s rights claims); Advocat. Inc. v. Sauer, 353 Ark. 29, 111 S.W.3d 346, 351 (2003) (jury rendered verdict on four separate counts: wrongful death, negligence, medical malpractice, and breach of contract); see also Brown v. St. Paul Mercury Ins. Co., 308 Ark. 361, 823 S.W.2d 908, 909 (1992) (“Our wrongful death statute created a new and separate cause of action which could arise if death was caused by any wrongful act and which carries its own statute of limitations as part of that right.”);

(hh) Based on this jurisprudence, we shall not dismiss Count I;

(ii) Finally, defendants assert that the separate punitive damages claim (Count XIII) should be dismissed because Arkansas does not recognize a separate action for punitive damages, which are in fact recoverable in conjunction with other claims;

(jj) Plaintiff apparently concedes that she cannot advance a stand-alone claim for punitive damages, but contends she is not *624barred from “specifically articulating her request for punitive damages in a separate paragraph,” Pl.’s Mem. 4;

(kk) Under Arkansas law, “the general rule is that a separate and independent action cannot be maintained for exemplary or punitive damages, but such damages are received, if at all, as an incident to the claim and judgment for actual damages,” St. Louis, I.M. & S. Ry. Co. v. Pickett, 70 Ark. 226, 67 S.W. 870, 871 (1902); and

(11) Therefore, while plaintiff is entitled to seek punitive damages in connection with some of her other claims, her complaint needlessly advances a separate count for these damages, so we shall dismiss Count XIII,

It is hereby ORDERED that:

1. Defendants’ motion for leave to file reply is GRANTED; and

2. Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART in that:

(a) Counts II, V, VII, XI, XIII are DISMISSED;

(b) The prayer for punitive damages in Count XII is DISMISSED; and

(c) The Pennsylvania law claims in Counts I, II and XII are DISMISSED.

Bearden v. Wyeth
482 F. Supp. 2d 614

Case Details

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Bearden v. Wyeth
Decision Date
May 5, 2006
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482 F. Supp. 2d 614

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United States

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