By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Multiple lawsuits against the makers of hormone replacement therapy drugs can be returned to state court in Minnesota, a federal appeals panel said today in a ruling overturning a decision by a federal judge in Arkansas.

The ruling by a panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis affects lawsuits filed by more than 100 women and survivors of deceased women alleging that Prempro and other similar drugs caused breast cancer.

The drug manufacturers were successful in having the lawsuits transferred to a federal court in Minnesota, arguing that the cases were improperly joined in state court. The cases later were transferred to the federal court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

The plaintiffs moved to have the cases remanded to state court, and in December 2008 a federal judge in Arkansas denied most of the motions, agreeing with the defendants that the cases were improperly joined.

The judge also dismissed many of the plaintiffs’ claims, finding that they duplicated claims filed previously in California.

A three-judge panel of 8th Circuit reversed the judge’s ruling today, finding that the manufacturers did not meet their burden of establishing that the plaintiffs’ claims were “egregiously misjoined.”

“Given the nature of the plaintiffs’ claims, this litigation is likely to contain common questions of law and fact. … One such common question might be the causal link between HRT drugs and breast cancer,” the court said in its opinion.

The court remanded the cases to state court in Minnesota and vacated the federal judge’s orders dismissing many of the claims, saying the judge did not have jurisdiction.