Drug Company Reports 2,660 Cases In New Jersey State Court Consolidation, 1,075 Cases Are Part Of Federal Court MDL, And 470 In California
(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)
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(12/5/13)
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About five months ago we posted "March 2013 Fosamax Product Liability Litigation Update: Femur Fracture Cases Against Merck -- December 31, 2012 Totals: 2,075 New Jersey (NJ) State Court Lawsuits, With 820 Cases Pending In Federal Court Fosamax MDL And 420 California Claims".
As seen in Merck's SEC filing for the second quarter of 2013, the number of Fosamax cases alleging femur fracture as the drug injury -- as opposed to osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) -- is growing albeit at a relatively modest rate.
And that total number will certainly get higher as we and other law firms around the country continue to investigate for litigation new Fosamax - femur fracture cases that will eventually be filed as lawsuits.
From the Merck SEC filing we get this update for the New Jersey consolidated Fosamax litigation:
As of June 30, 2013, approximately 2,660 cases alleging Femur Fractures have been filed in New Jersey state court and are pending before Judge Higbee in Atlantic County Superior Court. The parties have selected an initial group of 30 cases to be reviewed through fact discovery. The first trial of the New Jersey state Femur Fracture cases, Su v. Merck, began on March 11, 2013, but a mistrial was declared on March 28, 2013 after the plaintiff suffered a serious medical issue unrelated to her use of Fosamax that prevented her from proceeding with the trial. The next trial, Unanski v. Merck, was set to be tried beginning November 4, 2013, but has been continued and is expected to be tried in 2014.
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And from that same Merck document, as regards the Fosamax MDL for femur fracture lawsuits:
... approximately 1,075 cases were pending in the Fosamax Femur Fracture MDL as of June 30, 2013.... The first bellwether case, Glynn v. Merck, began on April 8, 2013, and the jury returned a verdict in Merck’s favor on April 29, 2013.... The second bellwether case, Zessin v. Merck, which was set to be tried in September 2013, is currently being held in abeyance, as are the trial dates for the remaining bellwether cases, Young v. Merck and Johnson v. Merck.
As usual, Merck includes the customary statement that "the Company intends to defend against these [Fosamax] lawsuits."
We will continue to monitor developments in the Fosamax - femur fracture litigation and report the more significant happenings here.
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