What Happened In The MassTorts World Last Week? 2019-Sep-30

Pelvic Mesh $20M Verdict Slashed By $5M

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its subsidiary Ethicon’s attempt to toss the $20 million pelvic mesh verdict was rejected by a Pennsylvania appellate court, but the court reduced the verdict to $15 million.

According to the pretrial memorandum, the plaintiff of Cinnaminson, New Jersey, had Ethicon’s TVT-Secur mesh implanted in June 2007 to help her with stress urinary incontinence. A couple of months later, her doctor discovered erosions in the material, which led to three separate surgeries to remove the material. However, she developed chronic pain and urinary dysfunction, as portions of the mesh remained in her body.

The plaintiff alleged stating that despite knowing there was a significant risk of mesh eroding inside patients, the manufacturers released the product to the public. The initial verdict was passed in April 2017, which included $2.5 million in compensatory damages, as well as $17.5 million in punitive damages.

The defendants appealed to toss the verdict, challenging the rules on the statute of limitations and several of the judge’s evidentiary rulings. On Friday, a split three-judge panel of the Superior Court reinstated the initial verdict, rejecting the appeal.

U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin is presiding over all Ethicon pelvic mesh lawsuits consolidated under multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2327; In Re: Ethicon, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation) in the Southern District of West Virginia.

Pa. Jury's First Risperdal Punitive Damages Trial Begins

A Risperdal punitive damages trial commenced last week in Philadelphia against Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals for illegally marketing drugs for off-label use in children. The trial is considered to be the first by a Pennsylvania jury to consider awarding punitive damages in a Risperdal case.

The lawsuit involves a plaintiff, who won $1.75 million in 2015, which was later reduced to $685,000, over claims against the pharmaceutical giant for causing his gynecomastia, an undesired growth of breast tissue in males after using Risperdal. The plaintiff started taking the powerful antipsychotic drug in 2003, at the time when the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) had not approved the drug for use in children. Following the New Jersey law, the Philadelphia judge barred Risperdal plaintiffs from seeking punitive damages in the litigation. The rule was later reversed by the Pennsylvania Superior Court, stating that, each plaintiff could apply the law of their home state on the punitive damages issue.

The stakes for the mass tort, which has around 7,000 cases pending in Philadelphia along with several multimillion-dollar verdicts, has been raised considerably.

There are two coordinated actions filed for Risperdal cases: one in Los Angeles Superior Court (Risperdal and Invega Product Liability Cases, JCCP 4775, presided by Honorable William Highberger) and the other in Philadelphia (In Re: Risperdal Litigation, March 2010 Term, Case No. 100300296).

Recall Expanded For 5 Lots Of Losartan Drugs

On September 19, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) expanded recall on three additional lots of losartan potassium tablets and two additional lots of losartan potassium/hydrochlorothiazide tablets. The recall announced on Monday included losartan drugs sold by Torrent Pharmaceuticals.

The affected batches include:

13668-409-10 Losartan Potassium Tablets, USP 50mg, 1000 count. Batch number: 4DU2E009. Expiration date: 12/31/2020.

13668-115-90 Losartan Potassium Tablets, USP 100mg, 90 count. Batch number: 4DU3E009. Expiration date: 12/31/2020.

13668-115-10 Losartan Potassium Tablets, USP 100mg, 1000 count. Batch number: 4DU3E018. Expiration date: 02/28/2021.

13668-116-90 Losartan Potassium/Hydrochlorothiazide Tablets, USP 50mg/12.5mg, 90 count. Batch number: BEF7D051. Expiration date: 11/30/2020.

13668-118-90 Losartan Potassium/Hydrochlorothiazide Tablets, USP 100mg/25mg, 90 count. Batch number: 4P04D007. Expiration date: 07/31/2020.

The recalled drugs belong to a class called angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) and are used to treat heart failure and high blood pressure. The recalled lots contained nitroso-N-methyl-4-aminobutyric acid (NMBA) above the acceptable daily intake levels as determined by the FDA. Drugmakers around the world have recalled their losartan, valsartan, and irbesartan products due to the presence of NMBA and other cancer-causing chemicals in active pharmaceutical ingredients sourced from suppliers in China and India.

More than 130 valsartan lawsuits in connection with the recalls are consolidated under MDL No. 2875 (In re Valsartan Products Liability Litigation) in the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, presided by Judge Robert B. Kugler, U.S.D.J and Hon. Joel Schneider, U.S.M.J. Lawsuits associated with the irbesartan or losartan recall are currently not included in the federal litigation. However, a request to expand the proceeding to include these claims were made by a group of plaintiffs.

Master Complaint Adopted For 3M Earplug Lawsuit

A Master Complaint is adopted by the federal court to streamline the future cases that will be brought against 3M Company’s Combat Arms Earplug alleging permanent hearing loss and tinnitus.

On September 20, the court adopted Master Complaint, as well as a Short Form Complaint. Various claims, allegations and requests for relief put forth by plaintiffs are featured in the Master Complaint, which will be specified by each plaintiff in their individual lawsuit through a Short Form Complaint. The Master and Short Form Complaint will simplify the process of filing new claims and will allow the parties to coordinate, categorize, and evaluate 3M lawsuits.

All 3M Earplugs injury lawsuits are filed under MDL No. 2885 (In Re: 3M Combat Arms Earplug Litigation) in the Northern District of Florida against Minnesota-based 3M. The lawsuits are brought by military veterans who are left with hearing loss or tinnitus due to defective earplugs distributed by the U.S. armed forces to all service members between 2003 and 2015.

Sacklers' Opioid Deal Endangered Over Bankruptcy Protection

On Wednesday 25, attorneys representing OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma filed a new complaint stating the Sackler family could drop the multi-billion-dollar opioid settlement deal if they are not protected against the outstanding state lawsuits.

According to the lawyers, the family will have to put several hundred millions of dollars on legal costs if the lawsuits continue that could otherwise fund the settlement. The lawyers further stated that the family “may be unwilling—or unable—to make contributions towards the settlement.

The pharmaceutical giant proposed a settlement deal valued between $10 billion to $12 billion. The deal involves the Sackler family giving up ownership of the company and contributing at least $3 billion of their own funds, which might potentially go up to $4.5 billion, depending on the sale value of their international company, Mundipharma. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection was filed Sunday, September 15 as a part of the deal.

Twenty-three states and three territories have agreed to the multibillion-dollar settlement deal, while around two dozen other states involved are against it.

149 Abilify Plaintiffs' Claims Dismissed

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers dismissed 149 cases linked to the side effects of the antipsychotic drug Abilify due to plaintiffs' failure to comply with court orders following the announcement of a global settlement by the defendants Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in February.

Judge Rodgers discovered that the dismissed plaintiffs didn't follow the directions by either failing to submit supporting documentation for their claims or submitting documentation that failed to establish that they used Abilify.

A separate order published on September 9 by Judge Rodgers indicates that four plaintiffs submitted satisfactory responses and would face no sanctions. The Plaintiffs were found eligible for a settlement award as they submitted all the necessary documentation post the initial and follow-up notice in April from the claims administrator. Three of them accepted a settlement award on August 9, and one plaintiff accepted the award on September 11. These four are in the process of submitting their releases.

There are more than 600 lawsuits originally filed in 2016 by consumers from several states, including Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania against Abilify manufacturers. The multidistrict 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 proceedings.

J&J Appeals On Oklahoma Judge's $572M Order

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) filed an appeal with the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday over an Oklahoma judge's $572 million order against the company and its subsidiaries for fueling the state's opioid crisis.

Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman ordered the company to pay $572 million last month to cover up the damages caused by opioid in the state, which the attorneys for the company believed was grossly inflated.

The Consumer products giant argued the ruling as an "unprecedented interpretation of Oklahoma public nuisance law." The appeal further stated that the novel ruling has immense public-policy implications, undermining product-liability law rules, which have always governed disputes over the marketing and sales of goods and threatening wide-ranging liability for companies that do business in Oklahoma. A spokesman for Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said their office is reviewing the appeal.

Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma and Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceuticals reached settlements worth $355 million with Oklahoma state before the trial began.

Jury Clears Sanofi In The First Taxotere Bellwether Trial

The first bellwether trial, underway in Louisiana federal court against Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC over claims that the chemotherapy drug Taxotere causes patients to lose hair permanently, resulted in the jury clearing the defendant manufacturers of liability.

The plaintiff, a Louisiana resident, filed the case in December 2016, after learning of the link between Taxotere and permanent hair loss through her brother who told her about lawyer advertisements for Taxotere lawsuits. In the complaint, Earnest claimed that her use of Taxotere from June 2011 to November 2011 caused "disfiguring permanent alopecia." The trial began on Sept. 16, and the jury after hearing closing arguments Thursday took less than two hours to clear Sanofi of liability. 

The trial is one of the thousands of cases before U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo in multidistrict litigation, MDL No. 2740, wherein plaintiffs allege that the drug caused permanent alopecia, a condition related to permanent hair loss. Other claims include failure to warn, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation, and more. 

Several other pharmaceutical companies involved in the manufacturing and/or distribution of Taxotere or docetaxel, namely  Pfizer Inc., Hospira Inc., Actavis PLC, McKesson Corp face similar allegations.