Supreme Court Grants Important Preemption Case

The Supreme Court just announced that it has granted an important case on federal preemption of suits by consumers injured by medical devices.  The case, which we've blogged about previously, is Riegel v. Medtronic, and the question presented is whether the Medical Device Amendments to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act preempt state-law suits seeking damages for injuries from medical devices that have received FDA pre-market approval.  My colleague Allison Zieve represents the consumer petitioner.  Although the state and federal courts have been split on this issue for many years, the Court has previously denied several similar petitions on the same question.   Just as in was in the pesticides preemption case a few years ago (Bates v. Dow Agrosciences), the Court's decision to grant this case is an encouraging sign.  Here's the cert petition in Riegel, and here are some previous posts with more on the case:

Should Premarket Approval Be a Liability Shield? (Allison Zieve)

Supreme Court Asks for Solicitor General View's in Important Preemption Case (Brian Wolfman)