Pfizer wins dismissal of U.S. investor class action ahead of trial

By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc won the dismissal Tuesday of a long-running shareholder class action accusing the company of misleading investors about the safety of its Celebrex and Bextra pain-relieving drugs. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in New York came ahead of a Sept. 9 trial in the case, which investors launched in 2004 and followed an earlier ruling precluding testimony by the plaintiffs' damages expert. A lawyer for the plaintiffs, James Sabella, had acknowledged at a hearing after that May ruling that "without a damages expert a securities fraud trial can't be tried." They sought to amend a report issued by their expert, Daniel Fischel, a former dean of the law school at the University of Chicago whose methodology for calculating damages Swain had found to be flawed. Swain, however, said the plaintiffs did not deserve a second chance and agreed with Pfizer the case should be dismissed.