Statute Of Limitations Over PPI Claims May Be Tolled

Statute Of Limitations Over PPI Claims May Be Tolled

Introduction

According to a recent stipulation order, a process has been established to allow Plaintiffs' counsel to toll the statute of limitations concerning potential Nexium, Prevacid, Prilosec and Protonix lawsuits. This move asserts that limited information would be provided to the drug makers about individuals who used a PPI drug and suffered kidney injury, so as to allocate more time for case investigation and review before an actual lawsuit is filed.

Starting from July 31, 2018, a spreadsheet would be submitted monthly, every last Tuesday, with certain information about each case, which would pause the statute of limitation until January 31, 2019, for federal cases and until May 31, 2019, for state cases. The order stated, cases selected for first Tolling List of July 31, 2018, will be tolled as of April 16, 2018, assuming those plaintiffs retained their counsel on or before April 16, 2018. For those plaintiffs who retained counsel after April 16, 2018, tolling will be the date they retained counsel. As per the agreement, the plaintiffs entering the tolling process are supposed to provide precise evidence regarding PPI drug use and their alleged kidney injury within 7 business days of filing the complaint. After the expiration of the agreement, the plaintiffs are required to submit Plaintiff Fact Sheets and other documents.

More than 4,500 product liability lawsuits are filed against PPI drug makers in the federal court over claims of kidney injury risks. It is expected that more than 10,000 cases would be presented by former drug users, as they now realize the cause of their complications due to the use of Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid or another PPI. PPI lawsuits were centralized as part of the multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2789; In Re: Proton-Pump Inhibitor Products Liability Litigation [No. II]) overlooked by Judge Claire C. Cecchi in the District of New Jersey.