Chang v. Baxter Healthcare Corporation
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
599 F.3d 728 (2010)
- Written by Tammy Boggs, JD
Facts
A group of Taiwanese residents (plaintiffs) believed that certain manufacturers of blood-clotting factors (the manufacturers) (defendants) wrongfully distributed HIV-contaminated blood-clotting factors in foreign countries, which were then injected into the Taiwanese residents and caused them to be infected with HIV in the 1980s. By 1998, counsel for the Taiwanese residents had begun settlement negotiations with some manufacturers of the blood-clotting factors, giving the Taiwanese residents reason to suspect the manufacturers’ wrongful or negligent conduct. In 2004, the Taiwanese residents filed a tort action against the manufacturers in California district court. The action was transferred to a Chicago district court to join other similar products-liability actions in multidistrict litigation. The trial court dismissed the Taiwanese residents’ primary tort claim as untimely under California’s two-year statute of limitations. Alternatively, the trial court ruled that, under California’s borrowing statute, a California court would apply Taiwan’s 10-year statute of repose, which would also operate to bar the Taiwanese residents’ tort claim. The Taiwanese residents appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Posner, J.)
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