California Supreme Court Watch

#22-157 Himes v. Somatics, LLC, S273887. (9th Cir. No. 21-55517; 29 F.4th 1125; Central District of California; D.C. No. 2:17-cv-06686-RGK-JC.) Request under California Rules of Court, rule 8.548, that this court decide questions of California law presented in a matter pending in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The questions presented are: “Under California law, in a claim against a manufacturer of a medical product for a failure to warn of a risk, is the plaintiff required to show that a stronger risk warning would have altered the physician’s decision to prescribe the product? Or may the plaintiff establish causation by showing that the physician would have communicated the stronger risk warnings to the plaintiff, either in [] patient consent disclosures or otherwise, and a prudent person in the patient’s position would have declined the treatment after receiving the stronger risk warning?”

Request for certification granted: 6/15/2022

Case fully briefed: 10/20/2022

Cause argued and submitted: 4/03/2024

See the Order Certifying Question to the Supreme Court of California.