Johnson & Johnson v. Superior Court

INTRODUCTION

In this action for negligence and strict products liability brought by plaintiff and real party in interest Christopher Trejo, petitioners Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division (McNeil) challenge the trial court’s July 30, 2010 amended order denying their motion for summary adjudication of issues regarding punitive damages. We issued an alternative writ of mandate and stayed the proceedings below. However, we now conclude that triable issues of material fact exist regarding whether the petitioners’ actions surrounding their purported failure to provide adequate warnings on their ibuprofen product constituted malice, sufficient to support a claim for punitive damages. We therefore discharge the alternative writ, and deny the petition.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In October 2005, real party in interest Trejo, then 15 years old, allegedly had a severe adverse reaction to Motrin, an over-the-counter (OTC) pain *760 reliever containing ibuprofen (a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)), developing a rare and serious skin condition known as Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and the more severe variant, toxic epidermal…