JPML Denies Separate MDL For Opioid-addicted Babies

JPML Denies Separate MDL For Opioid-addicted Babies

Introduction

In an order issued on December 7, 2018, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation denied a separate MDL track to class action lawsuits brought by the nation's opioid-addicted babies. The plaintiffs' bid for a single opioid infant MDL was refused by the panel, indicating that this might lead to a "substantial overlap" with the existing opioid MDL created a year ago.

Several plaintiffs claimed that the current MDL was not taking considerate steps to address their issues; however, manufacturers were against the creation of a separate MDL for opioid-addicted babies. A motion was filed in September seeking a separate opioid-infant MDL and financial assistance for medical monitoring and future medical treatment for the affected child to overcome opioid damages. Session for oral arguments was held by the JPML on November 29, 2018, in New York. As per Thursday's order, the lawsuits representing infants born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) will remain before Judge Dan A. Polster. The JPML stated, “few efficiencies will be gained by creating a new MDL for NAS plaintiffs. Discovery regarding the marketing, manufacture, distribution, and diversion of prescription opiates in plaintiffs’ cases will substantially overlap with that being undertaken in MDL No. 2804. Significantly, the risk of inconsistent pretrial rulings would increase dramatically were we to create another MDL, as plaintiffs request, before a judge in a district outside the Northern District of Ohio.”

Opioid litigation currently holds more than 1,300 lawsuits filed in several federal court systems, each with a similar allegation that the manufacturers and distributors are responsible for not controlling the drug abuse which has plagued the nation in the recent years.