Ever since the New Jersey Supreme Court advanced the theory of recoverability by uninjured tort plaintiffs for the costs of medical monitoring in Ayers v. Twp. of Jackson, we have been defending clients against such claims in state and federal courts around the country. We have employed a variety of strategies including motions on the pleadings, pretrial motions, and full trial on the merits if necessary. While preliminary motions are the economically preferred manner of disposing of such claims, we are prepared to and have tried to juries claims for medical monitoring, and have also argued that such claims are not appropriate for class certification.
In the case of Martin v. Amoco Oil Co., we obtained a defense verdict on claims by a 500-person class for medical monitoring damages. The verdict was upheld by the Indiana Court of Appeals and the Indiana Supreme Court. Martin v. Amoco. Oil Co., 679 N.E.2d 139 (Ind.App. 1997), aff’d, 696 N.E.2d 383 (Ind. 1998).
In a Baycol® product liability case, Sidley obtained an order from the Illinois Appellate Court affirming the denial of a motion to certify medical monitoring, consumer fraud, and breach of warranty classes and granting of motion for summary judgment. Jensen v. Bayer AG, 862 N.E.2d 1091 (Ill. App. 2007).
Sidley was able to obtain a similar result in Pennsylvania state court, where In a Baycol® products liability medical monitoring class action we were able to obtain summary judgment after successfully arguing for the exclusion of plaintiffs’ expert. Lewis, et al. v. Bayer AG, et al., No. 002353, (C.C.P. Phila. Co. Sept. 19, 2005).
In the Baycol® MDL, lawyers from Sidley’s Products Liability and Mass Tort Group wrote the briefs and took several of the depositions that resulted in the MDL Court denying a motion to certify nationwide personal injury, medical monitoring and economic loss classes, see In re Baycol Prods. Litig., No. MDL-1431, 218 F.R.D. 197 (D. Minn. 2003).
To efficiently defend against such claims, the firm maintains databases of experts familiar with studies on the predictivity, sensitivity, and specificity of various diagnostic techniques along with a database of such studies. We also maintain a current database of state law decisions on medical monitoring and medical monitoring class actions. For a copy of the survey, please send an email to tkapshandy@sidley.com.