Jim Heller, chair of Cozen O’Connor's Products Liability Practice Group, discusses the recent decision by a Pennsylvania federal court in which the jury found that Johnson & Johnson's over-the-counter Children's Motrin did not cause a child to develop a life-threatening skin disease. Johnson & Johnson fought the plaintiffs' specific causation claims by spotlighting the short delay between when the plaintiff had taken the medication in July 2010 and when they started showing symptoms of SJS in August that year. J&J had argued that by the time she developed the symptoms, the drug had already left her system. Defense attorneys say the outcome of this trial will drive J&J to select cases with similar fact patterns and potentially pursue them for trial. "Whenever you have a case involving an injury to a child, the jury's sensitivity is something the defendants have to overcome," said Jim, "If I were J&J's attorney, I would try to identify cases with the best facts, like this one. And if there's going to have to be a next trial, that would be the next one."

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