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Products Liability and the Illegal Acts Doctrine

By J. Russell Jackson
August 01, 2006

In products liability cases in most states, a plaintiff's conduct that contributes to his or her harm does not bar a claim, but instead may be considered by the jury in weighing the comparative fault of the parties. But should a case even have to go to a jury when the very harm that the plaintiff is suing for resulted from the plaintiff's own criminal misconduct?

Increasingly, courts are saying no. For example, the Mississippi Supreme Court recently affirmed a trial court's grant of summary judgment to the manufacturer of OxyContin' on strict liability, negligence, fraud and other claims that were based on the plaintiff's own illegal abuse of the drug. Price v. Purdue Pharma Co., 2006 WL 241083 (Miss. 2/2/06). The court held that it “will not lend its aid to a party whose cause of action directly results from an immoral or illegal act committed by that party.” Id. at 5.

OxyContin is a controlled substance: a Schedule II narcotic pain medication that is illegal to acquire by fraud or dishonesty. The plaintiff, having been diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, undoubtedly had severe pain. And he had violated criminal statutes by obtaining multiple prescriptions from different doctors concurrently. He even had signed various forms stating that he understood the danger of dependency on drugs like OxyContin. Nevertheless, the plaintiff sued various manufacturers, doctors and pharmacies, claiming that the drug was addictive and had caused him personal injury.

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