Merck's Appeal In Zostavax Lawsuit Rejected

Introduction

The U.S. District Judge rejected an appeal from Merck that requested the court to dismiss a claim of the Zostavax vaccine lawsuit considering the statute of limitations clause.

As per the court documents, the plaintiff received Zostavax in September 2007, after which she encountered a severe rash on her face and pain in her left eye. The plaintiff sued Merck in September 2018 after 11 years of vaccination as she was not aware until 2018 that Zostavax could cause shingles.

Merck defended itself by stating that the claim cannot be considered under the Florida statute of limitations for Zostavax lawsuits. The statute states that the diagnosed person should file the lawsuit within four years of being affected, and the plaintiff filed it after 11 years.

The case is a part of a “Group A Bellwether Pool” of six cases. The first Zostavax bellwether case will begin on January 18, 2022, but no specific claim has been shortlisted that will first go on trial.

The outcome of the bellwether trials will not affect other plaintiffs, but parties involved in the litigation will have a close look at the proceedings of the trial to deal with future similar claims.

Merck introduced Zostavax in 2006 as a single-dose vaccine containing live virus for shingles on the market of the United States. Currently, the Zostavax manufacturer is facing many lawsuits with allegations that the vaccine is inefficient and caused severe shingles outbreaks, auto-immune injuries and other complications among the users.

U.S. District Judge Harry Bartle is overlooking all the Zostavax lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where the lawsuits are centralized in federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) for the coordinated discovery of facts.

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