California Court of Appeal

Defense verdict in two cases against a manufacturer of certain pharmaceutical products is affirmed over claims that the trial court erred in: 1) refusing to instruct the jury that compliance with government standards cannot be considered as a basis for assessing the safety of a product in a design defect claim; 2) allowing defendant to present evidence which did not meet the admissibility standards established in People v. Kelly (1976) 17 Cal.3d 24; 3) allowing defendant to present evidence implying that the FDA affirmatively approved the marketing of its products while precluding plaintiffs from utilizing contradicting evidence in their opening statement or their case in chief; and 4) making other evidentiary rulings.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/27/2007
• Published 02/27/2007

Judges

• EPSTEIN, P.J.

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson, Mark P. Robinson, Jr., Newport Beach, Sharon J. Arkin;  Lopez, Hodes, Restaino, Milman & Skikos, Ramon Rossi Lopez, Steve Skikos and Melinda Davis-Nokes, San Francisco, for Plaintiffs and Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Kaye Scholer,Aton Arbisser, Jan E. Dodd, Tanja K. Shipman, Joshua Stambaugh, Los Angeles, and Randolph S. Sherman, for Defendant and Respondent.