ROBERT L. LARKIN and BARBARA A. LARKIN v. States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky Pfizer, Inc.

*The Hon. Herman J. Weber, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio, sitting by
designation.
NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION
File Name: 05a0147n.06
Filed: February 24, 2005
NO. 01-5340
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
ROBERT L. LARKIN and )
BARBARA A. LARKIN, )
)
)
Plaintiffs-Appellants, )
)
) ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED
v. ) STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
) WESTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY
)
PFIZER, INC., and G.D. SEARLE & CO., )
)
)
Defendants-Appellees. )
______________________________________
BEFORE: MERRITT and DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judges, and WEBER, * District
Judge.
PER CURIAM. In this products liability case, the district court exercised diversity
jurisdiction in granting summary judgment to the defendants, based on the court’s
conclusion that, although the Kentucky state courts had not spoken to the issue, the
learned intermediary doctrine should be applied to insulate from liability the manufacturers
of two drugs taken by plaintiff Robert Larkin. One or both of those drugs, prescribed by
Larkin’s physician, Dr. Reynolds, had caused a life-threatening skin condition that Reynolds

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knew was a risk associated with each drug, but about which he had given Larkin no
information because Reynolds did not believe the risk was significant.
On appeal, we could discern no way in which to predict with assurance what the
state courts would hold, if faced with a request to adopt the learned intermediary doctrine,
and we therefore certified the question to the Kentucky Supreme Court. In a recent
opinion, the Court adopted the doctrine in a closely divided opinion reported at Larkin v.
Pfizer, No. 2002-SC-0746-CL, 2004 WL 1361954 (Ky. June 17, 2004). Based on that
decision, we now AFFIRM the judgment of the district court granting summary judgment
to the defendants.

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