On January 6th of 2009, the court-appointed guardian for Tyson Wilson and Jasmine Mohammed filed a lawsuit against Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Watson Laboratories, Inc., and Watson Pharma, Inc., along with 100 “Doe” defendants. Doe defendants are used as placeholders until the names of the real parties can be determined. The lawyers in this fentanyl lawsuit allege that Melissa Mohammed was killed by a defective fentanyl patch designed and manufactured by the Watson defendants. The lawsuit further alleges that these patches were made in Corona, California, and not at ALZA’s plant in Vacaville.
I’m not familiar with Watson patches, but the lawsuit explains that they are reservoir design, similar to that of the Duragesic patch. Since the patent expired on Duragesic, it isn’t surprising that there would be generic versions of the patch that are made by someone other than ALZA. (Remember that ALZA manufactures many generic patches for companies like Sandoz.)
The lawsuit was filed in state court, but the Watson defendants tried to remove it to federal court. Their attempt failed in part because the judge felt the manner in which they tried to remove the case to federal court violated the spirit of the law and was nothing more than gamesmanship. This is another reason to make sure you choose the right fentanyl lawyer – the defendants will fight tooth and nail not to pay a dime to the families of those killed by fentanyl patches. If you would like to talk to a lawyer about filing a fentanyl lawsuit, why not contact me and have me put you in touch with a lawyer who can handle your case?