{"id":1480584,"date":"2026-02-13T16:49:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T22:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1480584"},"modified":"2026-02-14T19:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T01:05:51","slug":"east-texas-judge-weighs-motion-to-dismiss-paxtons-lawsuit-against-tylenol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1480584","title":{"rendered":"Motion to dismiss lawsuit against Tylenol"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"PANOLA COUNTY \u2014 An East Texas district court held a hearing on Thursday to discuss the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton against the companies that produce Tylenol. After the hearing, 123rd District Court Judge LeAnn Kay Rafferty did not make an immediate decision but indicated that she would \u2018take under advisement\u2018 the arguments presented. The lawsuit, initiated by Paxton\u2019s office, targets the pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue Brands, according to our news partners at KETK. The lawsuit asserts that they unlawfully marketed Tylenol, or acetaminophen, to pregnant women, despite claims that the medication may pose risks to unborn babies.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig Pharma betrayed America by profiting off of pain and pushing pills regardless of the risks. These corporations lied for decades, knowingly endangering millions to line their pockets,\u201d Paxton said in Oct. 2025.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for Kenvue and Johnson & Johnson have requested the dismissal of Paxton\u2019s lawsuit on several grounds. They argue that requiring the companies to label Tylenol as dangerous for pregnant women would violate their First Amendment rights and conflict with federal laws that prohibit misbranding drugs or providing misleading information on labels.
\nPanola County judge denies Paxton request to block Tylenol maker from paying shareholders<\/p>\n

Kenvue\u2019s attorneys also claim that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already determined that acetaminophen is safe for pregnant women. Therefore, the State of Texas requiring a label change would overstep the FDA\u2019s authority to regulate medications.<\/p>\n

In a letter dated Sept. 22, 2025, FDA commissioner Martin A. Makary said there has been a debate over the safety of acetaminophen during pregnancy, but he stressed that it is still the safest over-the-counter pain reliever.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the spirit of patient safety and prudent medicine, clinicians should consider minimizing the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy for routine low-grade fevers,\u201d Makary said. \u201cThis consideration should also be balanced with the fact that acetaminophen is the safest over-the-counter alternative in pregnancy among all analgesics and antipyretics; aspirin and ibuprofen have well-documented adverse impacts on the fetus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenvue\u2019s motion noted that the FDA is doing its own in-house review of the Tylenol label. According to Kenvue, the fact that the FDA is doing its own review of the label is another reason to dismiss the lawsuit since the court should defer to the FDA\u2019s expertise under the primary-jurisdiction doctrine.<\/p>\n

Attorney Kim Bueno and State Senator Bryan Hughes appeared for Kenvue Brands at the hearing across from John Mission for the State of Texas on Thursday. Records show that Rafferty considered the motion to dismiss the case, but she\u2019s only taking it under advisement for now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PANOLA COUNTY \u2014 An East Texas district court held a hearing on Thursday to discuss the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton against the companies that produce Tylenol. After the hearing, 123rd District Court Judge LeAnn Kay Rafferty did not make an immediate decision but indicated that she would \u2018take … Continue reading Motion to dismiss lawsuit against Tylenol<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":1480601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/02\/tylonol-e1771042156729-200x200.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1480584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-07 16:38:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/02\/tylonol-e1771042156729-200x200.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1480584"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1480651,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480584\/revisions\/1480651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1480601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1480584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1480584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1480584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}