UFCW Local 1776 v. Eli Lilly & Co.

UFCW Local 1776 v. Eli Lilly & Co.

Amicus brief on appeal in support of district court orders granting class certification and denying Eli Lilly’s motion for summary judgment, in case against Lilly for misleading patients and physicians about the safety of its prescription drug Zyprexa.

We filed an amicus brief in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in support of district court orders granting class certification and denying Eli Lilly’s motion for summary judgment in a case filed by health benefit providers (including union trust funds, among others) who paid an inflated price for Eli Lilly’s prescription drug Zyprexa because of Lilly’s misleading marketing campaign that misrepresented Zyprexa’s benefits and concealed its side effects.  Our brief emphasized the importance of the class action device and rebutted an argument made by Lilly’s amici that lay juries are incapable of second-guessing complex drug company decisions.  Our brief was written by Elizabeth Cabraser of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, with input from Public Justice’s Leslie Brueckner, Paul Bland, and Claire Prestel.

In September 2010, the Second Circuit ruled against the plaintiffs, reversing the district court’s class certification and denial of summary judgment.