OXYCONTIN SUIT: PLAINTIFFS WANT CASE BACK IN STATE COURT

BLUEFIELD - Plaintiffs in a federal law suit against the manufacturer
of a powerful painkiller want the case moved back into the state
courts and federal authorities are going to take a closer look at the
records of the state's top retail purchaser of Oxycontin. Sharon Faye
Baker and Chastity Cassidy, plaintiffs in a suit against Purdue
Pharma, L.P., and other companies associated with the manufacture,
marketing and sales of Oxycontin filed a motion in U.S. District
Court in Bluefield seeking to "remand" the case back into the state
system in the McDowell Circuit Court where the suit was first brought.

"It is a fundamental principal in our system of jurisprudence that a
federal court must not proceed in any matter without first
establishing that the dispute before it falls within the
controversies granted the federal judiciary by the Constitution ...
or by federal statute," plaintiff's attorney Mark A. Hunt of the
Charleston-based firm of Hunt & Serreno wrote in a memorandum in
support of his motion to remand the case back to the state court.

"To act otherwise is to encroach on the authority of the coordinate
state judicial system, and the decision of the federal court could
thus have no effect upon the parties in the dispute," the plaintiffs
stated. Baker and Cassidy claim they "assert no federal claim" and
point out that since a West Virginia company - namely Bradshaw
Pharmacy - is named in the case, the suit should be heard in the
state courts.

Plaintiffs contend that the case's "removal to this [c]ourt was
improper because the case could not have originally been brought in
(federal court). Lacking any jurisdiction, therefore, the [c]ourt
should remand the case to the state court in which it originated."

The court ordered the case transferred from the state court into
federal court on June 26. The complaint was originally filed on May
25, in the McDowell County Circuit Court.

In an unrelated federal court matter involving the often-abused
painkiller, the court issued an "administrative inspection warrant"
to the Drug Enforcement Administration, that gives the DEA
broad-based inspection powers to conduct an examination of the files
and records of Four Seasons Pharmacy in Princeton.

According to an affidavit filed July 10, and requesting the warrant,
the pharmacy "has never been inspected by the DEA. The affidavit
states that from Jan. 1, to Dec. 31, 2000, Four Seasons was "the top
retail purchaser of Oxycontin within the State of West Virginia,
purchasing 3,907.52 grams of the painkiller.

Diane Groseclose, one of the pharmacists at Four Seasons, said
authorities conduct regular inspections of the company's records and
procedures, although she was surprised that an inspection would
involve a federal court action.

She said the pharmacy would cooperate with federal authorities, as
they have in the past.