Quoted from http://www.law.com/jsp/pa/PubArticlePA.jsp?id=1202539031562
Pfizer Seeks MDL for Zoloft Birth Defect Cases
Majority of Cases Were Filed in Pa. State Court, Removed to Eastern District
January 20, 2012
In the latest volley by pharmaceutical defendants seeking alternative forums to Pennsylvania state court, drugmaker Pfizer on Wednesday asked that almost 50 cases that have been removed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania be consolidated into one multidistrict litigation.
Pfizer counsel Mark S. Cheffo and Katherine Armstrong of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom in New York filed a motion with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate 59 cases filed in Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio for pretrial proceedings.
The plaintiffs allege that birth defects were caused in children whose mothers took Zoloft during their pregnancies, according to court papers.