Showers v. Pfizer, Inc., 4/12/16
February 2, 2017
In a shareholder action alleging a drug manufacturer’s failure to disclose information on cardiovascular risks from COX-2 inhibitors, expert testimony on loss causation and damages should not have been excluded in its entirety under Fed. R. Evid. 702. Under the shareholders’ inflation-maintenance theory, the testimony could have been helpful to the jury even without disaggregation of fraudulent misrepresentations made by previous owners of drugs. It was proper to exclude, as insufficiently reliable, the expert’s adjustment to his event study analysis of stock price increases, but the error did not render the remainder of his testimony unreliable. The district court erred in concluding, as a matter of law, that the manufacturer had insufficient authority over certain of the prior owners’ statements so as to have “made” them. The summary judgment was vacated and remanded.