Moore v. Regents of the University of California
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Moore v. Regents of the University of California was a landmark Supreme Court of California decision. Filed on July 9, 1990, it dealt with the issue of property rights to one's own cells taken in samples by doctors or researchers.
Moore v. Regents of the University of California | |
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Decided July 9, 1990 | |
Full case name | John Moore, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. The Regents of the University of California et al., Defendants and Respondents |
Citation(s) | 51 Cal. 3d 120; 271 Cal. Rptr. 146; 793 P.2d 479 |
Case history | |
Prior history | Review granted, California Court of Appeal decision depublished |
Subsequent history | Remanded back to Court of Appeal for further proceedings |
Holding | |
Plaintiff stated a cause of action in lack of informed consent and breach of fiduciary duty, but not in conversion | |
Court membership | |
Chief Justice | Malcolm M. Lucas |
Associate Justices | Edward A. Panelli, Joyce L. Kennard, Stanley Mosk, Armand Arabian, David N. Eagleson, Allen Broussard |
Case opinions | |
Majority | Panelli, joined by Lucas, Eagleson, Kennard |
Concurrence | Arabian |
Concur/dissent | Broussard |
Dissent | Mosk |
In 1976, John Moore was treated for hairy cell leukemia by physician David Golde, a cancer researcher at the UCLA Medical Center. Moore's cancer cells were later developed into a cell line that was commercialized by Golde and UCLA. The California Supreme Court ruled that a hospital patient's discarded blood and tissue samples are not his personal property and that individuals do not have rights to a share in the profits earned from commercial products or research derived from their cells.[1] Following this decision, most U.S. courts have ruled against family members who sue researchers and universities over the "improper commercialization" of their dead family member's body parts.[2]