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PLL #16: Jurisdiction Over Foreign Companies

August 18, 2005


I came across an interesting decision by a California appellate court today (F. Hoffman-La Roche v. The Superior Court of Santa Clara County). The underlying case arose from a tragic situation in which a 14-year old boy who had been taking the acne medication Accutane for six months committed suicide by throwing himself in front of an oncoming railroad train. His parents claimed that the drug made their son suicidal and sued six “Roche Group” pharmaceutical companies. Included were F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. (a Swiss company which “only sells the active ingredient in Accutane in Switzerland to the domestic U.S. Roche affiliates that manufacture and sell the drug” in the U.S.), Roche Holding Ltd. (the Swiss parent of F. Hoffman and the Roche companies (New Jersey corporations which made and sold Accutane in the U.S.), and two New Jersey Roche corporations (which were wholly owned by Roche Holding Ltd.)

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