Russel Bruesewitz, et al. Petitioners v. Wyeth LLC, Fka Wyeth, Inc., Fka Wyeth Laboratories, et al. (562 U.S. 223)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 22, 2011 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 562 U.S. 223 · 131 S. Ct. 1068
- Decided
- February 22, 2011
- Term
- October Term 2010
- Vote
- 6–2
- Majority author
- Justice Scalia
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court. We consider whether a pre-emption provision enacted in the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (NCVIA) bars state-law design-defeet claims against vaccine manufacturers. I A For the last 66 years, vaccines have been subject to the same federal premarket approval process as prescription drugs, and compensation for vaccine-related injuries has been left largely to the States. Under that regime, the elimination of communicable diseases through vaccination became “one of the greatest achievements” of public health in the 20th century. But in the 1970’s and 198Q’s vaccines became, one might say, victims of their own success. They had been so effective in preventing infectious diseases that the public became much less alarmed at the threat of those diseases, and much more concerned with the risk of injury from the vaccines themselves. Much of the concern centered around vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP), which were blamed for children’s disabilities and developmental delays. This led to a massive increase in vaccine-related tort litigation. Whereas between 1978 and 1981 only nine products-liability suits were filed against DTP manufacturers, by the mid-1980’s the suits numbered more than 200 each year. This destabilized the DTP vaccine market, causing two of the three domestic manufacturers to…
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