Generic Zantac Makers Want Final Judgment in Fla. MDL

Thomas Yoo, who leads the firm's Product Liability Life Sciences Team, has served as liaison co-counsel for the manufacturers of a generic form of the heartburn medication Zantac in ongoing multidistrict litigation (MDL) in Florida. The defendants recently asked a Florida federal court to issue a final judgment throwing out claims against them. In the motion, the companies argued that U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg's order last month throwing out claims against the brand-name makers of Zantac, or ranitidine, applies equally to them, as the court has said consistently that ruling on general causation would apply to the rest of the MDL.

"The same result is warranted here," the generic manufacturer defendants argued. "Plaintiffs have taken their best shot and missed." The companies also argued in the alternative that the claims should be dismissed because the central issue of causation has already been fully litigated, largely by the same plaintiffs, in the motions over general causation for the brand-name defendants, and the court should not need to relitigate the issue again.

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