About 4,400 Cases Still Pending In Federal Court MDL As Well As New Jersey And California State Courts
(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)
UPDATE: On March 22, 2017 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal by U.S. District Court Joel Pisano of all the pending federal court Fosamax - femur fracture cases nationwide on federal preemption grounds. The Third Circuit significantly held that the ultimate question of whether the FDA would have rejected a Fosamax label change by Merck for the increased risk of femur fractures is a question of fact for the jury, rather than for the court, to decide.
(3/23/17)
In their corporate report Form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2016, Merck & Co., Inc. provided investors and others with their most recent update about what has been going on (or has not been, as it might seem to be the situation) with the thousands of Fosamax - femur fracture cases filed against the drug company.
At pages 17-18 of this Merck corporate report for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2016 (a 45-page PDF document), which was released on or about May 5, 2016, we get this information:
As previously disclosed, Merck is a defendant in product liability lawsuits in the United States involving Fosamax (Fosamax Litigation).... [P]laintiffs in approximately 4,405 of these actions generally allege that they sustained femur fractures and/or other bone injuries (Femur Fractures) in association with the use of Fosamax....
As of March 31, 2016, approximately 20 cases were pending in the Femur Fracture MDL, excluding the 515 cases dismissed with prejudice on preemption grounds that are pending appeal and the 520 cases dismissed without prejudice that are also pending the aforementioned appeal.
As of March 31, 2016, approximately 3,040 cases alleging Femur Fractures have been filed in New Jersey state court and are pending before Judge Jessica Mayer in Middlesex County....
As of March 31, 2016, approximately 300 cases alleging Femur Fractures have been filed and are pending in California state court. A petition was filed seeking to coordinate all Femur Fracture cases filed in California state court before a single judge in Orange County, California.... The next Femur Fracture trial in California that was scheduled to begin on April 25, 2016, was stayed at plaintiffs’ request and a new trial date has not been set. [emphasis added]
Those of you who have Fosamax - femur fracture lawsuits filed on your behalf or have been monitoring this particular set of drug injury cases will know that the take-away message from this latest update from Merck is either "more of the same" or "not much has changed".
For others, who have not been following along, here is a list of some our earlier periodic reports about this Fosamax litigation:
Arguments Made To Appeals Court In Fosamax – Femur Fracture Litigation
Merck Fosamax – Femur Fracture Lawsuits Wait For Appeals Court Rulings
First 2015 Update On Fosamax Femur Fracture Litigation: Not Much New Information To Report Out
Be assured that we will continue to watch for any significant developments as regards these Fosamax - femur fracture lawsuits in 2016 and report such events out to you.
DrugInjuryLaw.com: Medical & Legal Information About Drug Side Effects (All website content by attorney Tom Lamb)
Drug Injury Case Evaluation - Free. Confidential. No Obligation. (Case review done by attorney Tom Lamb)