Timothy Coughlin Awarded Summary Judgment

Following a case argued in front of the Ohio Supreme Court by lead counsel Timothy J. Coughlin, Valentine v. Conrad, 110 Ohio St. 3d 42 (2006), BASF Corporation (“BASF”) was awarded summary judgment last week when the court ruled that plaintiffs Larry and Margaret Cooper could not establish that Mrs. Cooper’s hypothyroidism was caused by exposure to BASF’s product, the termiticide Termidor SC, where there was no reported case of this product ever causing hypothyroidism or thyroid abnormalities of any kind in humans in the published medical or scientific literature.

In Larry Cooper, et al. v. BASF Corp., et al., Case No.: CV-2010-06-4340, Court of Common Pleas, Summit County, Ohio, plaintiffs brought negligence and inadequate warnings claims against BASF when plaintiff Mrs. Cooper was diagnosed with hypothyroidism months after an alleged misapplication of Termidor SC. Plaintiffs employed general causation “expert” Dr. Richard L. Lipsey to opine that Termidor SC is capable of causing hypothyroidism in humans. The court found Dr. Lipsey’s opinion unreliable since none of the articles or studies that Dr. Lipsey reviewed in forming his opinion (most of which were animal studies in the form of internet summaries) show a causal connection between Termidor SC exposure and hypothyroidism.

The court wrote in excluding Dr. Lipsey’s opinion and granting summary judgment, “Like the experts in the Valentine case, Dr. Lipsey would be required to extrapolate from the conclusions of the underlying materials to reach an opinion regarding general medical causation as to Mrs. Cooper. In summary, Dr. Lipsey has no reliable scientific bases upon which to base his expressed opinion. For this reason, the Court cannot consider Dr. Lipsey's opinion as to general medical causation.” Without an admissible opinion on general causation, summary judgment was granted as to all claims against BASF since plaintiffs could not establish proximate cause.