MULCAHY v. ELI LILLY & CO.

No. 85-685.

386 N.W.2d 67 (1986)

Linda MULCAHY and Michael Mulcahy, Personally and Individually, and as Parents and Natural Guardians of Matthew Mulcahy and Marc Mulcahy, Minors, Plaintiffs, v. ELI LILLY & COMPANY, a New Jersey Corporation, Movant; Abbott Laboratories, an Illinois Corporation; American Home Products Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, Movant; the Boyle Company, a California Corporation; Breon Laboratories, Inc., a New York Corporation; Burroughs-Wellcome Company, a North Carolina Corporation; Carnrick Laboratories, Inc., a New Jersey Corporation; Cooper Laboratories, Inc., a Delaware Corporation, Movant; Forest-McKesson, Inc., a Maryland Corporation; Merck, Sharp & Dohme, a Delaware Corporation, Movant; Miles Laboratories, Inc., an Indiana Corporation; Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation, a New Jersey Corporation, Movant; Rexall Drug Company, a Delaware Corporation, Movant; Merrell-Dow Pharmaceutical, Inc., a Delaware Corporation, Movant; Sandoz, Inc., a Delaware Corporation; Schering Corporation, a New Jersey Corporation, Movant; E.R. Squibb & Sons, Inc., a Delaware Corporation, Movant; the Upjohn Company, a Delaware Corporation; Winthrop Laboratories, Inc., a Delaware Corporation; Emons Industries, Inc., a New York Corporation; Glaxo, Inc., a Maryland Corporation; Johnson & Johnson Products, Inc., a New Jersey Corporation, Movant; and Premo Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Inc., Now Known as Lemmon Company of New Jersey, Inc., a New Jersey Corporation, Movant, Defendants-Movants.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

April 16, 1986.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

David M. Elderkin and Edward M. Blando, of Elderkin, Pirnie, Von Lackum & Elderkin, Cedar Rapids, for defendant-movant Merck.

L.W. Rosebrook and David Swinton, of Ahlers, Cooney, Dorweiler, Haynie, Smith & Allbee, Des Moines, and John C. Mott of Zarlengo, Mott & Zarlengo, Denver, Colo., for defendant-movant Miles Laboratories.

Charles T. Traw, of Leff, Leff, Leff, Haupert & Traw, Iowa City, for defendants-movants Johnson & Johnson and Ortho Pharmaceutical.

William M. Tucker, Bruce L. Walker, and Mary E. Phelan, of Phelan, Tucker, Boyle & Mullen, Iowa City, and A. Edward Grashof, New York City, for defendant-movant Rexall.

Raymond R. Stefani and Frank S. Mitvalsky, of Silliman, Gray & Stapleton, Cedar Rapids, for defendant-movant Merrell-Dow Pharmaceuticals.

Timothy S. White, Michael L. Koon, and J. Richard Johnson, of White & Warbasse, Cedar Rapids, for defendant-movant Sandoz.

D.G. Ribble, of Lynch, Dallas, Smith & Harman, Cedar Rapids, for defendant-movant Schering.

Ross H. Sidney, of Grefe & Sidney, Des Moines, and Lane D. Bauer, Larry R. O'Neal, Stephen E. Scheve, and Andrew See of Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Kansas City, for defendant-movant Eli Lilly.

L.R. Voigts and Richard J. Sapp, of Nyemaster, Goode, McLaughlin, Emery & O'Brien, Des Moines, for defendant-movant Abbott Laboratories.

Don N. Kersten and Stephen G. Kersten, of Kersten, Opheim, Carlson & Trevino, Fort Dodge, for defendant-movant American Home Products.

Wayne C. Collins, David D. Vestal, and Mark C. Zaiger, of Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, Cedar Rapids, for defendants-movants Breon Laboratories and Winthrop Laboratories.

Lawrence E. Blades and William H. Carmichael, of Blades & Carmichael, Cedar Rapids, for defendant-movant Burroughs-Wellcome.

James W. Crawford and Daniel J. McDermott, of Crawford, Sullivan, Read & Roemerman, Cedar Rapids, for defendant-movant Carnrick Laboratories.

Terry J. Abernathy, of Pickens, Barnes & Abernathy, Cedar Rapids, for defendant-movant Cooper Laboratories.

Hearst R. Duncan, Jr., and R. Todd Gaffney, of Duncan, Jones, Riley & Finley, Des Moines, for defendant-movant Upjohn.

Bennett A. Webster and Brent B. Green, of Gamble, Riepe, Webster, Davis & Green, Des Moines, and John H. Schafer, Michael S. Bernstein, and Michael Roth, of Covington & Burling, Washington, D.C., for defendant-movant Glaxo.

William C. Davidson and Constance A. Schriver, of Lane & Waterman, Davenport, for defendant-movant Premo Pharmaceutical.

Jeffrey A. Boehlert and Michael D. Huppert, of Patterson, Lorentzen, Duffield, Timmons, Irish, Becker & Ordway, Des Moines, and Robert L. Kaufman, of Haight, Dickson, Brown & Bonesteel, Santa Monica, Cal., for defendant-movant Squibb.

Randall Nazette, of Nazette, Hendrickson, Marner & Good, Cedar Rapids, and Gerald P. McDermott and Daniel M. Reilly, of McDermott, Hansen, Anderson & Reilly, Denver, Colo., for plaintiffs.

Considered en banc.


SCHULTZ, Justice.

The central issue here is whether we will depart from our rule of causation that a plaintiff in a products liability action bears the burden of proving the defendant manufactured or supplied the product that caused the injury. Plaintiffs maintain they are injured due to the ingestion in 1949 of a drug, a synthetic estrogen compound of stilbene derivatives which we shall refer to as DES. Plaintiffs are not able to specifically identify the manufacturer...

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