Jim Heller, chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Products Liability Practice Group, discusses Johnson & Johnson’s upcoming Pennsylvania federal court trial alleging children are developing a skin condition after taking the company’s pain reliever, Children’s Motrin. A jury is set to decide claims that Johnson & Johnson defectively designed the drug and failed to warn consumers about the risks. The company is likely to try to convince the jury that the FDA would have rejected any stronger warnings it attempted to put on the drug, but such a defense would be a hard sell, said Jim, “They have to humanize these defenses,” he said. “If you have the right witnesses, it can be done, but it’s difficult. The jury is going to see this plaintiff and the condition that she was in and hear that Johnson & Johnson knew of the risks prior to her ingesting this medication.”
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