Weekly Mass Torts Bulletin 2021-Aug-16

Merck's Appeal In Zostavax Lawsuit Rejected

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.

Californian Woman Sues Bayer Over Roundup

A 70-year-old Californian woman has sued Bayer by making allegations that after regular usage of the company's Roundup weedkiller, she developed Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

As per the court documents, the plaintiff got diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2017 as she used Roundup on her property for more than 30 years. The old age and deteriorating health of the plaintiff resulted in the fast-tracking of the lawsuit for an early outcome. The outcomes, evidence, and testimony can be used by the juries in other potential bellwether trials.

It will be the first Roundup trial to be held since 2020, as most of the U.S. judicial system shut down its operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company is looking forward to settling the Roundup cases rather than uncertain jury trials.

Bayer has even announced that it will keep aside $4.5 billion as a reserve to cover the costs for the upcoming trials and ongoing settlements.

120,000 Non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL) cases have been filed by former Roundup users against Bayer and its subsidiary Monsanto. All the plaintiffs involved in the lawsuits allege the manufacturer withheld the risks associated with the weedkiller from the users for making a profit.

Earlier, Bayer suffered huge losses in Roundup trials held in 2018 and 2019. The company has even agreed to pay billions to settle the upcoming lawsuits that will go for a trial before the state and federal juries.

All the Roundup lawsuits are centralized before U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in the Northern District of California for a coordinated discovery of evidence and testimony. The judge is even preparing to resolve numerous cases. He has ordered the plaintiffs to take part in a mediation program that will help to get a settlement for every plaintiff involved in the litigation.

Tasigna Lawsuits Centralized Before A Federal Jury

On August 10, 2021, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized 18 Tasigna lawsuits in multi-district litigation for a coordinated discovery of testimony and evidence alleging Novartis’ drug causes cardiovascular disease.

Tasigna lawsuits which are now part of a new MDL will be presided by U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton of the Middle District of Florida.  

The lawsuits filed by plaintiffs have a common allegation that the use of the chronic myeloid leukemia drug Tasigna leads to atherosclerotic injuries.

The attorneys representing the company said that only four cases were filed since the start of this year, and 20 cases were filed just a day before out of the 186 pending cases in the New Jersey state court's multicounty litigation.

One of the plaintiff's attorneys said that consolidating the cases in New Jersey will prevent inconsistent discovery rulings. Another cancer patient's attorney supported the statement.

The defendant's attorney responded by stating that there would not be a risk of inconsistent rulings, as an agreement specifies there will be only one discovery production in the case.

The defendant's attorney supported that the lawsuits should be sent to Florida court, as most of the suits are filed there. He even claimed that even though Tasigna causes cardiovascular disease such as heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral arterial disease, the fact cannot be ignored that the drug is the first thing to be used for the treatment of the disease. He even informed that these diseases are the number-one cause of mortality in the United States.

Earlier, one of the plaintiffs filed a motion on April 14 with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to centralize all the Tasigna lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois for a common outcome.

Tasigna is marketed by Novartis; as a result, the company faces several product liability lawsuits for its failure to warn about the risks associated with the drug.

FDA approved Tasigna (nilotinib) in 2007 as a part of a class of medications known as kinase inhibitors. These medications are prescribed to treat Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML).

Lucas County Approves $24.9 Million Opioid Settlement

A settlement of up to $24.9 million is approved by the Lucas County commissioners in the statewide opioid lawsuits against the distributors and manufacturers.

Many municipalities across the state have joined the OneOhio plan that is focused on distributing funds to local jurisdictions from the National Prescription Opioid Litigation settlement, and Lucas County is one of them. The plan will ensure that each township and city within Lucas County will receive fair compensation. $809 million has been allotted to the state of Ohio from the national settlement of opioids.

AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson are the three major companies that will pay the amount of the settlement to the county. The attorney representing the county said that Lucas County is to receive between $4.5 million and $6.4 million to deal with opioid-related issues.

The amount will completely depend on the number of Ohio municipalities signing the agreement. The settlement is calculated considering the number of diagnosed opioid use disorders and deaths in the jurisdiction.

The attorney for the county even informed that a 29-member nonprofit foundation board of the county would vote to decide the best way to spend 55 percent of the settlement amount to address the opioid crisis.

The settlement would not bring the lost lives back, but it will surely help to control the further opioid crisis and deal with the currently affected users, said the attorney for the county. The board president of the nonprofit foundation said that the amount is huge, but splitting the settlement for 18 years is the best way to compensate the affected users, counties, and municipalities.

The attorney even informed that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is also a part of the national opioid litigation, but it is not liable for this portion of the settlement.

Earlier, Connecticut's attorney general has committed to getting $300 million for the state from the $26 billion opioid settlement offered by the pharmaceutical distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson (J&J).

Attorney General William Tong wrote in a letter informing about how the settlement amount will fund strategies, initiatives and programs. It will help the states, victims and their families to overcome the opioid crisis.

Some advocates and politicians have objected to depositing the settlement amount in the state’s general fund. They showed concern considering the misuse of the millions of dollars received by the state every year in the 1998 Big Tobacco settlement for smoking prevention and cessation.

Connecticut will receive $300 million over the next 18 years, as per the agreement. The state will get $26 million for the initial three years, and a varied sum of amount will be allotted for the next fifteen years. Pharmaceutical distributors McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen, along with J&J, will pay the amount.

Municipalities and the state signing on the agreement will get 85% and 15% respectively from the settlement amount allotted to Connecticut. 70% of the allotted funds to the state will be used for controlling future crisis whereas 15% will be used for general abatement measures. The amount will also cover the attorney's fees.

Last year, opioid overdose claimed 1,400 lives in Connecticut and 93,000 lives throughout the nation.

J&J even face several lawsuits over its talcum powder products, with nationwide women alleging the company's baby powder of causing ovarian cancer. 12,00 women and their families have filed lawsuits against the company in the past 25 years with similar allegations of cancer-causing ingredients in the talc products.

Earlier, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge of Arkansas announced a deal with opioid manufacturers and distributors that requires the drugmakers to pay $216 million to Arkansas in the opioid MDL.

Three major pharmaceutical distributors, Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen, along with opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson (J&J), will pay the settlement amount to Arkansas. The agreement will settle a number of opioid litigations faced by the companies and will also prevent the future opioid crisis.

The Attorney General said that opioid overdose has resulted in several deaths in Arkansas during the past decade. Many families from the state have lost their loved ones because of the opioid crisis. The settlement will not bring back the lost lives, but it will surely help to prevent opioid addiction problems among the people of Arkansas. The settlement amount will be used to educate and treat people suffering from opioid addiction problems.

Nearly 4000 opioid lawsuits have been filed in federal and state courts across the country, and the agreement would resolve those claims. States can sign the agreement in 30 days, whereas the local governments have up to 150 days to participate in the deal.

Arkansas will sign the agreement after reviewing the final documents of the deal. The state would receive $216 million as a settlement for the opioid crisis.

The settlement is a part of the $26 billion deal announced by a federal judge to tackle the opioid epidemic throughout the nation. J&J will pay $5 billion, and the distributors will pay the remaining amount of $21 billion.