Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court made it more difficult for people who file product-liability lawsuits against drug makers to engage in “forum shopping,” a practice in which someone files a lawsuit in a state where courts are seen as more hospitable to consumers.
In that closely watched case, the court ruled hundreds of out-of-state plaintiffs failed to demonstrate a sufficient connection between injuries they allegedly suffered from a Bristol-Myers Squibb drug and company activities in California. The state has been a favorite venue for such suits, but the court noted the plaintiffs did not buy or ingest the drug there, and Bristol-Myers is not headquartered there.
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