Avoiding the UCC § 2-607(3)(A) Notice Trap: Reworking the Notice Requirement to the Third-Party Manufacturer of Goods

Nicholas Seger, Avoiding the UCC § 2-607(3)(A) Notice Trap: Reworking the Notice Requirement to the Third-Party Manufacturer of Goods, 25 Wake Forest J. Bus. & Intell. Prop. L. 293 (2025).

In 2020, Suzanne Knauer, a mother from Maryland, filed suit against GlaxoSmithKline, LLC (GSK), claiming that its widely used antidepressant Paxil caused severe, irreversible harm to her child, S.K.  Born with profound neurological and behavioral injuries, S.K.’s condition was traced back to Knauer’s use of Paxil during her pregnancy—a decision made in reliance on medical advice and the absence of any warning about its risks to fetal development.  Knauer’s suit sought accountability not just for her child’s injuries, but for the systemic failure to provide adequate warnings.  Knauer brought suit against GSK on behalf of herself and S.K.  

Amid a myriad of legal motions and procedural challenges, one issue predominated: Maryland’s requirement that buyers of defective products provide notice to sellers before filing a breach of warranty claim.  GSK argued that Knauer’s claim for breach of implied warranty must fail because she did not notify GSK of the product’s alleged defects before initiating the lawsuit.  Despite the severity of S.K.’s injuries and the compelling evidence linking Paxil to neurological harm, this procedural rule stood as an obstacle to Knauer’s recovery.  

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