2nd Setback for DES Victims

Cancer victims whose mothers took the anti-miscarriage drug DES suffered their second legal defeat in a week today when the state Supreme Court ruled that they had to sue drug companies within a year after learning of their disease and its suspected cause.

The unanimous decision requires the dismissal of damage suits by Christine Jolly of Los Angeles and others like her who did not sue until after a landmark 1980 decision by the court made it clear that a successful suit was possible. Last week the court, in another unanimous decision, ruled that women suing over DES and other allegedly harmful prescription drugs could not collect damages without proving that companies were careless in making the products or failing to warn of known dangers. The ruling also limited the damages available in DES suits against multiple drug companies.