Brown v. Superior Court

751 P.2d 470 (1988)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
B
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Brown v. Superior Court

California Supreme Court
751 P.2d 470 (1988)

Facts

The mother of Jan Brown (plaintiff) took the prescription drug diethylstilbestrol (DES) to prevent miscarriage when pregnant with Brown. Brown was one of many injured parties who sued over 170 drug manufacturers (defendants) that produced DES. Brown alleged that the drug manufacturers used the same formula and that DES was unsafe for use in preventing miscarriage and caused severe injury to Brown. The drug manufacturers failed to warn users or their doctors that DES contained a cancer-causing substance. Pretrial rulings for the drug manufacturers held they could not be strictly liable for the alleged defect in DES but only could be liable for failing to warn of known or knowable side effects of the drug. Brown sought a writ of mandate or writ of prohibition in the court of appeal to review the pretrial rulings. That court issued an alternative writ and upheld the trial court's ruling and denied a peremptory writ. The California Supreme Court granted review to examine the court of appeal’s conclusions and its potential conflict with caselaw.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Mosk, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 804,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 804,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 804,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Products Liability
Torts

Key Terms

Related Videos