The Honorable Michael Noble Missouri Cases

Relators, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, and Janssen Research & Development, sought a writ of prohibition to prevent the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis from trying claims of plaintiffs who were not injured in St. Louis. The circuit court had denied the pharmaceutical companies' motion to transfer these claims. The Missouri Supreme Court made its preliminary writ of prohibition permanent, holding that the circuit court abused its discretion. The Court reaffirmed that permissive joinder cannot create venue in an otherwise improper forum and found that a newly enacted statute, section 508.013.1, did not apply because the initial trial docket setting was not an "actual trial date" as contemplated by the statute.