PPI Plaintiffs Request Judge to Club 300 Individuals Cases

PPI Plaintiffs Request Judge to Club 300 Individuals Cases

Introduction

Gauging filing Short Form Complaint would not suffice to handle the wave of expected PPI lawsuits, Co-Lead Counsel for the plaintiffs filed a proposed case management order (PDF), requesting temporary clubbing of at least 300 plaintiffs living in the same state on one complaint. Though the defendants have opposed this motion, the plaintiffs strongly feel it would allow the filing of a large number of claims before the statute of limitations date expire at the same time save capital and resource allocation.

The Proton Pump Inhibitor lawsuit defendants, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Procter & Gamble Co., McKesson Corp., Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., Pfizer Inc., and Pfizer subsidiary Wyeth, are facing a growing number of lawsuits. The drugs in question include Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid, Protonix, and others. The plaintiffs allege that PPIs cause kidney injuries including acute interstitial nephritis, chronic kidney disease (CKD), and end-stage renal disease. Each allegation holds the drug manufacturers responsible for withholding information about the risks associated with the long-term use of the acid-reflux medications. In August 2017, the PPI lawsuits were centralized in the District of New Jersey before Judge Claire C. Cecchi for coordinated pretrial proceedings under MDL No. 2789 (In Re:  Proton-Pump Inhibitor Products Liability Litigation [No.II]).

In January, Judge Cecchi’s authorized the direct filing of future lawsuits in the MDL to avoid the delays associated with transferring claims from various district courts nationwide and standardize allegations raised in each case. Following this decision, the plaintiffs had two weeks to file a Master Complaint to outline all of the allegations against the manufacturers. Filing a Short Form Complaint was then allowed for individual plaintiffs giving the flexibility to adopt certain claims against the manufacturers applicable when initiating their case.