Weekly Mass Torts Bulletin 2021-Dec-13

New York To Receive $200M Over Opioids From Allergan

New York state and two of its counties will receive $200 million from pharmaceutical company Allergan Finance LLC that would eventually eliminate the company from the ongoing state lawsuit over the opioid crisis.

Attorney General Letitia James reported in the statement that opioids have created havoc for almost two years among the New Yorkers and Americans across the nation resulting in extreme pain, addiction and several deaths. The ongoing trial will help the court to determine the role of companies like Allergan and other opioid manufacturers in the ongoing drug crisis in the United States.

Allergan's $200 million settlement will help the state deal with the opioid-related issues and will also cover attorneys’ fees and costs. Previously Allergan decided to discontinue its opioid business although it had less than 1% of the market share in the nationwide opioid market.

Allergan's agreement results in Teva Pharmaceuticals being the remaining defendant in the ongoing trial of Suffolk County in recent months. Anda, a regional drug distribution company and Teva are also defendants in a county lawsuit.

The state even reached an agreement with Endo International in a similar suit. Allergan did not admit to any liability as part of the agreement.

About thousands of lawsuits have been filed by state and local governments, unions, school districts, Native American tribes and other drug companies, and the current lawsuit is one of them. All the lawsuits highlight the adverse effects of opioids on individuals across the nation. In the last two decades, opioids have been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S.

Plan For Narrowing A Field Of Zantac Lawsuits

A joint plan to narrow more than 130,000 potential personal injury claimants accusing alleged links between the heartburn drug Zantac and various cancers has been presented by the parties of the Zantac MDL.

Florida-based U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg is overseeing the Zantac MDLs and informed that he will have a conference with attorneys for the consumers and various drugmakers to look into the "gray" areas of the MDL.

Earlier, Judge Rosenberg trimmed major  claims against generic-drug makers and retailers, but still, pharmaceutical brands were left out facing accusations of false advertising, failure to warn and other claims associated with the alleged discovery of the cancer-causing chemical nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA, in the medication. The companies included including Sanofi, Pfizer Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline LLC.

The parties involved in the bellwether pool of the MDL have agreed to limit the plaintiffs residing in Florida itself. As per the stated agreement, 75% of the Florida plaintiffs will be bound to MDL court's orders and certify that they will file their complaints within the MDL. The first trial is slated for July 17, 2023, whereas November 15 is the deadline for getting the plaintiffs registered to the agreement.

The plan even outlines the limit of duration which plaintiffs need to abide by to provide discovery, including signed medical authorizations and a list of certain medical providers, with stipulations for curing deficiencies. These cases would be resolved by the court.

Talc Claimants Seek To Toss J&J's Chapter 11 Motion

The official committee of talc claimants asked a New Jersey bankruptcy judge to dismiss Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) Chapter 11 case by stating that the proceeding is fake and designed to protect the company from huge penalties.

The motion argues that Johnson & Johnson executed a divisive merger transaction known as a "Texas two-step" that is solely designed to create LTL Management LLC and will prevent J&J from additional liabilities in the talc lawsuits.

Within two days of LTL Management LLC's formation, it filed for Chapter 11. The company's headquarters is located in New Jersey, hence in mid-November, the case was transferred in the state to be closer to the company's headquarters and employees. The federal multidistrict litigation of talc products is also pending in the state.

The committee even explained that J&J has misused the bankruptcy process to get rid of the liabilities. A hearing to dismiss the motion is scheduled for Feb. 15, 2022.

Currently, J&J faces more than 38,000 lawsuits of individual claims with allegations that exposure to the company's talc products caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma due to the presence of asbestos in them.

Till now, J&J has spent around $1 billion for defending nearly 40,000 talcum powder claims. The company even spent $3.5 billion to deal with the claimants in verdicts and settlements.

Indianapolis School District Joins A Lawsuit Against Juul

Indianapolis Public Schools has joined a lawsuit that alleges e-cigarette giant Juul of marketing vaping pods to youth which eventually resulted in vaping epidemic in the state of Indiana.

Ten other schools from Indiana have signed on the lawsuit apart from Indiana Public Schools. The lawsuit alleges that Juul Labs Inc. used illicit marketing strategies to increase the sale of their vaping products among the youths studying in these schools. 31,000 students study in Indiana Public Schools.

The complaint even highlights the advertising methods that the company uses to target youth and fuel nicotine addiction among them. The lawsuit even alleges that JuuL hired young models and used bright fun themes to deceive the youth. The company also marketed kid-friendly flavors of vaping pods such as crème brulee, mint and mango.

In 2019, Juul discontinued its non-menthol-based flavors. The lawsuit will go for trial in the California court where the company has its base. The percentage of high school students who used nicotine has multiplied between 2017 and 2018.

More than 5 million middle and high school students, including 25% of high school students, reported using e-cigarettes by 2019.

As per the 2018 Indiana Youth Tobacco Survey, vaping pods are so popular and addictive that more than one-third of Indiana high school students have used a Juul product.

Minnesota Government Agrees On A $300M Opioid Settlement

Minnesota has reached a $300 million opioid settlement against Johnson & Johnson and the three major U.S. drug distributors over the companies' role in the nation's opioid addiction crisis.

The decision came as the state and local governments were required to reach an agreement before January 2, 2022, to get the maximum amount from the national settlement. Attorney General Keith Ellison prepared a detailed draft about the distribution of the state's share from the $26 billion national settlement.

As per the agreement,  75% of the settlement funds will be allotted to the municipal governments, while the state will get 25%. The state and local governments will receive the amount of $296 million over the next 18 years.

The drug distributors involved in the settlement agreement are Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen along with manufacturer Johnson & Johnson (J&J). The agreement is just one of the several facades in ongoing nationwide litigation against opioid marketers, drug makers and wholesalers across the United States.

The settlement is a result of investigations from state attorneys general across the U.S. concerned about J&J misleading the doctors and patients about the opioid's addictive nature. It also investigates if the distributors failed to detect and deliver dubious drug orders.

According to the data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2019, 14,000 people died of opioid overdoses, which is 38 people per day of the year. As per the lawsuit filed against Purdue Pharma and OxyContin, millions of Americans became addicted, and hundreds of thousands died because of opioid painkiller overdoses between 1999 and 2015.