Nationwide Class Over Elmiron Vision Monitoring Cases Denied

Introduction

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone issued an opinion, stating that claims filed seeking vision monitoring program by the former users of Elmiron residing in the U.S. cannot be litigated as a nationwide class action.

The lawsuit was filed by a plaintiff who was prescribed Elmiron to treat his interstitial cystitis (IC). The plaintiff, on behalf of other IC drug users, whom he seeks to represent as a class, alleged that the defendants negligently failed to conduct adequate safety testing, notify the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) of the link between Elmiron and maculopathy, and alert consumers to the risks of taking the drug.

The plaintiff demanded the defendants to pay for ongoing medical monitoring of prospective class members on the basis that early diagnosis achieved through a monitoring regime will lead to benefits in treatment, management, rehabilitation, or mitigation of long-term health consequences.

The Amended Complaint set forth three separate putative classes: the “Proposed Illinois Class,” the “Proposed Pennsylvania Class,” and “the Proposed Nationwide Class.”

The defendants, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., filed a motion to strike only "the Proposed Nationwide Class," contending that there are laws in some states, which prevent such medical monitoring claims where there has been no diagnosed injury.

Judge Beetlestone agreed to strike the claims seeking medical monitoring over the medication filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and allowed other claims to proceed in the litigation.

A hearing session is scheduled for December 3, 2020, in San Antonio, Texas, to hear the oral arguments from various parties involved in the lawsuits over the consolidation request filed by a group of plaintiffs asking the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) to centralize the cases before U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti in New Jersey.

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