What Happened In The MassTorts World Last Week? 2019-Mar-04

York County joined statewide and national fight against opioid companies for the devastating opioid crisis. A 283-page complaint blaming Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, and other opioid manufacturers for the epidemic was originally filed on November 21, 2018, in York County Superior Court, and was recently transferred to federal court.

The County's lawsuit joins about 1,500 nationwide lawsuits and 13 others filed by Maine counties and municipalities' lawsuits. These lawsuits, which include cities of Portland, Bangor, and Lewiston, were already a part of multidistrict litigation and transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, where Judge Dan Polster overlooks the National Prescription Opiate Litigation (MDL No. 2804; In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation). According to the lawsuit, the negligent actions of the defendants caused York County to dole out exorbitant amounts of money to deal with the opioid crisis. The lawsuit alleged that the defendants' deceptive and unfair marketing tactics since the 1990s, reversed the understanding of opioids. There are staggering statistics included in the lawsuit like the health care costs borne by the state due to opioid abuse in 2015, which was more than $92 million, and costs involved in the foster care system in Maine for 1,000 infants born with a defect.

Between 2010 and 2016, the number of opioid deaths increased by 125%, and nearly 55 opioid overdose deaths were reported in York County between 2009 and 2015. In the first six months of 2017, 20% of the total overdoses in the state happened in York County.

Lawsuits filed by 37 cities and two towns in the Connecticut state against Purdue Pharma and two dozen other drug companies were dismissed by Judge Thomas Moukawsher of the Hartford Superior Court. The jury considered the lawsuits as "ordinary civil cases" seeking damages for "indirect harm" from the opioid crisis throughout the nation. The lawsuits were not even government enforcement actions, which is another reason for the dismissal.

It is the first time that the government lawsuits in the recent rounds of litigation against opioid manufacturers are dismissed. Bridgeport, New Haven, and Waterbury are the plaintiffs in the case. Drugmakers request to dismiss claims brought by local governments and other groups were rejected by an Ohio federal judge in the last month. The Connecticut-based company, Purdue Pharma, denied all the allegations in lawsuits that claimed the company indulged in false marketing to improve sales of its painkiller drug OxyContin.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 50,000 Americans died due to a drug overdose in 2017, and the toll has been spiking for two decades.

Earlier, Superior Judge Mary M. Johnston issued an opinion on February 4, 2019, allowing Delaware Attorney General to pursue claims against drug manufacturers who downplayed the addictive nature of opioids.

Manufacturers and distributors of opioids were accused of fraudulent marketing tactics to sell the painkillers for unapproved uses, as per a 124-page complaint. The lawsuit seeks to reimburse the costs incurred in health care, the criminal justice system, social services, welfare, and education systems.

The lawsuit seeks to reimburse the costs incurred in health care, the criminal justice system, social services, welfare, and education systems. Opioid caused the largest number of deaths last year, as per the report issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The jury selection for the much-talked-about first bellwether trial involving Bayer AG Monsanto and a 70-year old plaintiff began as scheduled on February 25, in San Francisco, California.  

The plaintiff, who used Roundup in his Sonoma County property from the 1980s through 2012, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2015. He alleges that glyphosate and other ingredients contained in Roundup resulted in his diagnosis of cancer, which may have been avoided if adequate warnings and safety instructions for consumers had been provided by the manufacturer.

Earlier, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria passed a decision to split the trial into two phases, restricting the plaintiff lawyers from introducing evidence that the company allegedly attempted to influence the regulators and manipulate public opinion leaving them to first convince the jurors that Roundup caused the plaintiff’s cancer before making arguments for punitive damages. The trial is expected to last about four weeks, the outcome of which can help attorneys decide whether to continue fighting similar suits in court or settle them.

Bayer faces more than 9,300 Roundup lawsuits in state and federal courts across the country over allegations that it causes non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Roundup cancer lawsuits are consolidated into multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2741; In re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation) in the Northern District of California. Two more bellwether trials are scheduled for this year with a number of state court claims lined up through 2020.

Earlier on Wednesday, February 13, a federal judge indicated that he might reverse the Roundup lawsuit filed by a plaintiff that claims Monsanto's Roundup herbicide was the reason for his non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The man's lawyer has got a second chance, as the case will go on trial in May this year.

The plaintiff was unaware that Monsanto was unaware that roundup was the main cause of his cancer, which he discovered after the International Agency for Research on Cancer released a report in 2015, about glyphosate's carcinogenic nature.

According to a February 21 case management order issued in the Northern District of Florida, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have reached on a confidential global settlement with thousands of plaintiffs who alleged that the antipsychotic drug Abilify causes uncontrollable gambling urges.

The order entered by Judge M. Casey Rodgers stated, the agreement resolves all cases pending in the multidistrict litigation as of January 28 or those which are in the process of being transferred to the MDL, and also multicounty litigation in state court in New Jersey, cases in California state courts, and any other pending cases filed in the federal or state courts. The details of the master settlement remained confidential. The companies stated, "the settlement reflects Otsuka and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s desire to focus on the needs of patients and prescribers rather than on continued litigation. Otsuka and Bristol-Myers Squibb expressly disclaim any wrongdoing or liability." A settlement was reached on April 30 for three bellwether cases selected by Judge Rogers. There are more than 2,000 lawsuits pending in the federal MDL which allege that the drug approved to treat schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder and major depressive disorder caused consumers to exhibit unusual compulsive behavior.

As per the order issued on February 15, the Court directed all plaintiff's counsel in the Abilify gambling litigation to appear for a case management conference to resolve most of the lawsuits pending in the federal court system considering the final global settlement.

Currently, more than 2,000 Abilify product liability claims are pending against the drug makers alleging that they failed to provide an adequate warning about the serious side-effects of the antipsychotic drug, which include uncontrollable urges to gamble and engage in impulsive behavior.. 

The multi-district litigation MDL No. 2734 (In Re: Abilify Compulsive Behavior Products Liability Litigation) was formed in October 2016 in the Northern District of Florida for coordinated discovery and pre-trial proceeding.

In a notice filed this month, the plaintiffs involved in Zimmer NexGen knee implant litigation have agreed to participate in the settlement program, which will leave only a few cases unresolved.

The parties indicated at least 273 out of 279 plaintiffs are eligible to be part of the settlement. Hence, the parties have consummated the global deal. Last February, a global settlement was announced after an agreement was reached in principle to resolve Zimmer NexGen knee implant cases filed in state and federal courts. But, the agreement was dependent on the vast majority of plaintiffs favoring the settlement offer. Zimmer Biomet has been blamed in nearly 300 product liability lawsuits, involving allegations that certain components of the NexGen knee system were defectively designed and were prone to early failure. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer overlooks all Zimmer NexGen cases in the Northern District of Illinois since August 2011.

In April 2014, Zimmer and Biomet announced a collaboration to provide joint replacement, bone repair, and dental implant solutions. Zimmer Biomet started to offer solutions to the musculoskeletal healthcare industry in June 2015. The implants were intended to relieve pain, provide good quality of life to the patients. However, Zimmer lawsuits filed by several individuals claimed the metal-on-metal articulation used in the system resulted in Metallosis, because of the metal grounding on metal as it leads to toxic metal shards being released into the patient's surrounding tissues and bone.