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2 Supreme Court Rulings Take Side Of Business

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Los Angeles Times

Published: February 21, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court gave business two big wins Wednesday by shielding companies from lawsuits and state regulations.

In one ruling, the court said makers of medical devices, such as heart valves or pacemakers, cannot be sued by injured patients if the Food and Drug Administration had approved the devices for sale. In the second, the court freed shippers and delivery services such as UPS from state regulations that require them to check that an adult was the recipient of cigarettes delivered to a residence.

In the medical device case, the court threw out a lawsuit against Medtronic over a balloon catheter that burst in the chest of a New York man. He underwent emergency surgery and eventually died. His wife sued Medtronic, saying the catheter was defective.

But the court rejected her suit in a 8-1 decision, saying juries may not second-guess the FDA on whether these devices are safe.

In the delivery case, the court had been urged by the Bush administration and 38 states to uphold a Maine law that required shippers to check that the person receiving the cigarettes was an adult.

In this era of Internet commerce, state officials want to make sure minors are not ordering illegal products for themselves. In the past, retailers had the duty not to sell certain products to minors. These days, shippers and delivery services need to enforce those rules, the states said.

But in a 9-0 ruling, the court said a federal law that deregulated the trucking industry sweeps aside all such state rules, even those designed to protect health and safety.

"You can't have 50 states setting different rules for shipping services. It would result in higher costs and slower service," said lawyer Beth Brinkman, who represented the shipping industry.

In both decisions, the court read federal law broadly to protect companies from juries or state regulators.

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