In a case involving terbutaline sulfate, the Firm secured a voluntary dismissal with prejudice for Firm client Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.  Pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, plaintiff brought the case in the midst of being charged with felony attempts to abduct two young girls.  Plaintiff claimed that exposure to terbutaline while in utero — 25 years prior to his alleged crimes — caused him to develop autism and other “brain damage” that rendered him unable to develop the requisite mens rea to sustain a criminal conviction.  Plaintiff also sought $20,000,000 in damages from Novartis.

After an intense final push of key fact and expert depositions, plaintiff’s counsel admitted that he “cannot win this case” and “didn’t want to lose any more money,” and succumbed to Novartis’s demand for an immediate dismissal with prejudice, just one month before dispositive and Daubert motion deadlines, thereby killing this particular plaintiff counsel’s plans to troll for more terbutaline/innovator claims against Novartis.

Coleson v. Novartis Pharm. Corp., No. 3:18-cv-00359, (S.D. Miss. June 29, 2020)