Court: Expiration Date Provision in Statute of Repose Bars Diet Drug Claim

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - A Tennessee woman's diet drug suit has been dismissed in accordance with a provision in the statute of repose that barred her primary pulmonary hypertension claims before they accrued. Montgomery v. Wyeth, et al., No. 05-323 (E.D. Tenn.).

Judge Curtis L. Collier of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee on March 19 apologetically awarded summary judgment to Pondimin manufacturer Wyeth, invoking the statute's rarely-used anticipated life provision, which requires a plaintiff to file a complaint for injuries caused by a product within one year of its published expiration date.

The judge issued …