A putative nationwide class of health and welfare funds and third-party payors have agreed to drop their suit against Skadden client Pfizer for alleged fraudulent marketing of the medicine Lipitor. In a joint stipulation and order of dismissal filed on November 6, 2009, the plaintiffs dismissed their case with prejudice.
Skadden also recently secured the dismissal of RICO and consumer fraud claims brought against Pfizer by the putative class. In the September 30, 2009 dismissal, Judge Kimba M. Wood of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held that plaintiffs lacked standing to bring any of their claims because they failed to adequately allege a causal nexus between their alleged overpayment for Lipitor and Pfizer’s purported wrongful marketing, but granted leave for plaintiffs to amend a number of their claims.