March 16, 2007

West Virginia's settlement two years ago with Purdue Pharma, maker of the drug Oxycontin, was alarming on numerous grounds; Prof. Childs, pointing to this student note (PDF) by Joseph B. Prater of Northwestern on the affair, observes that the case was "another step in efforts to make products liability cases into public nuisance cases". Guns and lead paint having already been assailed under nuisance theories, he wonders whether other pharmaceuticals will follow.