RAMIREZ V. PLOUGH, INC. 6 Cal. 4th 539 (1993) CASE BRIEF

RAMIREZ V. PLOUGH, INC.

6 Cal. 4th 539 (1993)

NATURE OF THE CASE: Plough (D) appealed a judgment from the Court of Appeal which reversed summary judgment for D in Ramirez's (P) action alleging negligence in the distribution of a nonprescription drug, aspirin, without providing warnings of Reye's syndrome in Spanish.

FACTS: Ramirez (P) a minor, sued Plough, Inc. (D) for allegedly contracting Reye's syndrome as a result of ingesting St. Joseph's Aspirin for Children. P had been given the product by his mother and when she took him to the hospital she was advised to give the boy Dimetapp or Pedialyte as they did not contain aspirin. The label on the St. Joseph's told any user not to give the product to a child under two without first consulting a physician. P was less than four months old. P also refused to follow the advice of her physician and continued giving P the aspirin. P contracted Reye's syndrome resulting in severe neurological damage. D had the proper Reye Syndrome warnings on its product but they were only printed in English. P's mother was only literate in Spanish. The trial court granted summary judgment for D. P appealed and the appeals court reversed; the adequacy of a product warning is a question of fact and there was sufficient evidence to show that D knew the product was being used by Spanish only speaking customers and there was a lack of evidence as to the costs of Spanish labeling. The reasonableness of D's not doing Spanish Labeling was a triable issue of fact as such summary judgment should not have been rendered. D appealed.

ISSUE:

RULE OF LAW:

HOLDING AND DECISION:

LEGAL ANALYSIS:

Get free access to the entire content for Mac, PC or Online

for 2-3 days and free samples of all kinds of products.

https://bsmsphd.com

© 2007-2016 Abn Study Partner