Voluntary Product Recall Does Not Constitute Defect, Ky. Federal Judge Rules

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky federal judge has dismissed a product liability action involving an eye lubricant, ruling that the plaintiff cannot rely solely upon a voluntary recall notice as support for her strict liability claims, without specifying an actual defect.

In an Oct. 13 order, Chief Judge Danny C. Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky concluded that “the allegations of a voluntary product recall alone cannot push a products liability claim across “the line between possibility and plausibility of entitlement to relief.”

Lucinda Christian alleges that her use of Altaire Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s …