Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2001
Source: Bluefield Daily Telegraph (WV)
Copyright: 2001 Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Contact:  http://www.bdtonline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1483
Author: Bill Archer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?186 (Oxycontin)

OXYCONTIN SUIT: PLAINTIFFS WANT CASE BACK IN STATE COURT

BLUEFIELD - Plaintiffs in a federal law suit against the manufacturer 
of a powerful painkiller want the case moved back into the state 
courts and federal authorities are going to take a closer look at the 
records of the state's top retail purchaser of Oxycontin. Sharon Faye 
Baker and Chastity Cassidy, plaintiffs in a suit against Purdue 
Pharma, L.P., and other companies associated with the manufacture, 
marketing and sales of Oxycontin filed a motion in U.S. District 
Court in Bluefield seeking to "remand" the case back into the state 
system in the McDowell Circuit Court where the suit was first brought.

"It is a fundamental principal in our system of jurisprudence that a 
federal court must not proceed in any matter without first 
establishing that the dispute before it falls within the 
controversies granted the federal judiciary by the Constitution ... 
or by federal statute," plaintiff's attorney Mark A. Hunt of the 
Charleston-based firm of Hunt & Serreno wrote in a memorandum in 
support of his motion to remand the case back to the state court.

"To act otherwise is to encroach on the authority of the coordinate 
state judicial system, and the decision of the federal court could 
thus have no effect upon the parties in the dispute," the plaintiffs 
stated. Baker and Cassidy claim they "assert no federal claim" and 
point out that since a West Virginia company - namely Bradshaw 
Pharmacy - is named in the case, the suit should be heard in the 
state courts.

Plaintiffs contend that the case's "removal to this [c]ourt was 
improper because the case could not have originally been brought in 
(federal court). Lacking any jurisdiction, therefore, the [c]ourt 
should remand the case to the state court in which it originated."

The court ordered the case transferred from the state court into 
federal court on June 26. The complaint was originally filed on May 
25, in the McDowell County Circuit Court.

In an unrelated federal court matter involving the often-abused 
painkiller, the court issued an "administrative inspection warrant" 
to the Drug Enforcement Administration, that gives the DEA 
broad-based inspection powers to conduct an examination of the files 
and records of Four Seasons Pharmacy in Princeton.

According to an affidavit filed July 10, and requesting the warrant, 
the pharmacy "has never been inspected by the DEA. The affidavit 
states that from Jan. 1, to Dec. 31, 2000, Four Seasons was "the top 
retail purchaser of Oxycontin within the State of West Virginia, 
purchasing 3,907.52 grams of the painkiller.

Diane Groseclose, one of the pharmacists at Four Seasons, said 
authorities conduct regular inspections of the company's records and 
procedures, although she was surprised that an inspection would 
involve a federal court action.

She said the pharmacy would cooperate with federal authorities, as 
they have in the past.
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