Pfizer and subsidiary Greenstone face Zoloft product liability complaint

A Florida woman has filed a product liability complaint against Pfizer over injuries her minor child suffered while in utero as a result of the plaintiff taking the anti-depressant drug Zoloft during pregnancy.

Attorneys Bill Robins, III, J. Robert Black and Leslie LaMacchia, of the Texas law firm of Heard Robins Cloud & Black, filed the civil action May 25 at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of Cathy Serrano, and her child, identified in the lawsuit only as K.S.

An additional defendant named in the lawsuit is New Jersey-based Greenstone LLC, a Pfizer subsidiary.

The complaint alleges that K.S. sustained a cardiovascular malformation and heart defect as a result of Serrano taking Zoloft and/or Sertraline while she was pregnant with the child.

The suit claims that Serrano would not have used the antidepressant drug and her physician would never have prescribed the medication if the defendants had properly disclosed the risks associated with the use of these drugs during pregnancy.

“Defendant Pfizer, throughout its affirmative misrepresentations and omissions, actively concealed from Plaintiff and her physicians the true and significant risks associated with use of Zoloft and/or Sertraline during pregnancy,” the lawsuit states. “The running of any applicable statute of limitations has been tolled by reason of Defendant Pfizer’s fraudulent concealment.”

The lawsuit accuses Greenstone, which became a subsidiary of Pfizer in 2003, of the same type of negligence.

The lawsuit contains counts of strict liability-defective design, strict liability-failure to warn, negligence, breach of express and implied warranties, negligence misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.

The plaintiff seeks unspecified general, special and statutory damages, pre-and-post-judgment interest, attorney’s fees, litigation costs and other court relief.

A jury trial has been demanded.

The complaint was filed at the federal courthouse in Philadelphia as part of the Zoloft Multidistrict Litigation being coordinated by U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe.

 

The federal case number is 2:12-cv-02909-CMR.