20 PPI Lawsuits To Head Towards Bellwether Discovery Pool

20 PPI Lawsuits To Head Towards Bellwether Discovery Pool

Introduction

Proton Pump Inhibitor Lawsuits over kidney problems including Nexium, Prilosec, and other similar drugs have been selected as a part of Bellwether Discovery Pool, by U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi,  which will be prepared for early trial dates.

According to an order issued last month in the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, the eligible cases as of May 31, 2019, includes plaintiffs who filed a complaint in the multidistrict litigation and served all named defendants; provided a substantially complete Plaintiff Fact Sheet; provided evidence they used at least one of each named defendant’s heartburn drugs.

After identifying all eligible cases, each parties’ counsel will select five cases, and the court will randomly select 200 cases, following which each side will have a chance to pick 16 cases, out of the 210, for a total of 32.

Out of 32, each side can strike six cases from the group, and then once the 20 pool cases undergo case-specific discovery, 6 will go to serve as trial cases.

More than 13,000 lawsuits are consolidated under MDL No. 2789; In Re: Proton-Pump Inhibitor Products Liability Litigation [No. II], each alleging that the drug makers failed to warn about the risk of chronic kidney disease associated with the widely used heartburn and acid reflux drugs.