U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly, presiding over testosterone multidistrict litigation (MDL), ordered a retrial in the $140.1 million AndroGel verdict for a plaintiff who suffered a cardiac arrest due to the alleged use of the TRT drug. The announcement was made on July 6, 2018, in a case management order which found the jury's findings inconsistent.
Judge Kennelly stated, “In this case, one of the key disputed issues was causation, specifically whether AndroGel caused the plaintiff’s heart attack. The jury was given a single causation instruction that covered all of the claims. Thus the issue of causation on the two claims that have to be retried due to the inconsistency of the jury’s verdicts is anything but ‘distinct and separable’ from the issue of causation on the misrepresentation claims. For this reason, the Court concludes, it would be impossible to limit a new trial to the inconsistent claims ‘without injustice.’ The appropriate remedy for the jury’s inconsistent verdicts on the strict liability and negligence claims is ‘|LS|a|RS| new trial on all claims.”
The case would be retried in the fall after a proper counsel discussion. Bellwether trials are expected to begin for 19 other AndroGel lawsuits between October 2018 and March 2019.
