#masstorts

MTMP - Mass Torts Made Perfect 2023 - An extraordinary journey! We were privileged to be part of this extraordinary event, and it completely surpassed our wildest expectations.✨

Our visionary Founder and CEO 'Ripon Kumar' at Ray Advertising LLC, was truly honored to be a part of this prestigious event. The experience was nothing short of transformative🌟

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On August 5, a three judge panel from the New Jersey state appeals court reversed a 2016 summary judgment granted in favor of defendants, talc manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and talc miner Imerys Talc America in cases brought by two women who allege J&J’s talc products caused their ovarian cancer. In its opinion, the panel ruled that Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Nelson C. Johnson abused his discretion by serving as the fact finder in deciding the credibility of the plaintiffs’ experts’ opinions instead of merely assessing whether the doctors’ opinions were based on sound scientific methodology. The trial judge acknowledged that the experts, Dr. Graham Colditz and Dr. Daniel Cramer, were qualified but opined that their scientific studies and evidence were narrow and shallow, showing a preference for cohort studies and their larger sample sizes over the case studies relied on by the experts.  In overturning the ruling by the trial court and discussing the studies cited by Colditz and Cramer, the appeals court stated that those studies satisfied the criteria outlined in the Federal Judicial Center’s Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence and also noted that size and the types of study are not the sole determinants of reliability. As a result of the plaintiffs’ experts’ testimony being reinstated, a dispute over a material fact exists in the matter and the case will proceed. The two cases, brought by plaintiffs Brandi Carl and Diana Balderrama, were the first two to be tried from the group of 100 lawsuits included in New Jersey’s multi-county litigation. Click on this link for information on Verus’ Mass Tort Services. To contact us, fill out this form or email us at [email protected] and we will reply immediately. |CONTACT US| |REQUEST PROPOSAL| The post Litigation Update: New Jersey Appeals Court Reverses 2016 Summary Judgment in Ovarian Cancer Cases appeared first on Verus.

On Monday, July 20, a California appellate court upheld a jury’s finding in 2018 that Monsanto’s popular weed killer, Roundup, was responsible for causing plaintiff DeWayne Johnson’s cancer.  Appearing before a three-judge Court of Appeals panel, Monsanto, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, argued that the plaintiff had failed to prove either liability or causation; they also argued that Mr. Johnson’s claims of the company’s failure to warn were pre-empted by federal law. In its decision affirming the jury’s earlier findings, the Court stated that none of Monsanto’s arguments were persuasive. The court did, however, reduce the total compensatory damages from $39.3 million to $10.25 million, stating that the noneconomic damages awarded to Mr. Johnson were not supported by his true life expectancy. The punitive damages were reduced accordingly as well, bringing the total award to $20.5 million.  The original verdict of $289 million had been reduced to $78.5 million by the trial judge in 2018. Mr. Johnson, a former school groundskeeper, had been the first to file suit over claims that glyphosate-based Roundup caused his cancer; his lawsuit was followed by over 100,000 more filed across the country. In the first appellate decision on the issue, the California court upheld most of the plaintiff’s arguments regarding Monsanto’s failure to warn and rejected the company’s position that Mr. Johnson had failed to prove Roundup caused his cancer.  The court also rejected Monsanto’s contention that because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had approved the Roundup label in use at the time, Mr. Johnson’s lawsuit was governed by Federal law which pre-empted California law. In its opinion the court stated, “Monsanto cannot avoid liability ‘merely because its failure to warn of a known or reasonably scientifically knowable risk conformed to an industry wide practice of failing to provide warnings that constituted the standard of reasonable care,’ nor can it avoid liability simply because its own testing showed a result contrary to that of others in the scientific community.” In a statement, Bayer AG praised the court’s reduction of the damages award but stated it was still considering an appeal, maintaining that Roundup was safe and the jury finding was inconsistent with the evidence presented at trial. Click on this link for information on Verus’ Roundup Litigation Support Services. To contact us, fill out this form or email us at [email protected] and we will reply immediately. |CONTACT US| |REQUEST PROPOSAL| The post Litigation Update: Court Rules in Monsanto Appeal appeared first on Verus.

While many courtrooms across the country were closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are several mass torts that continued making significant progress despite the legal hiatus. Two of these were cited in our 2020 forecast: JUUL The JUUL MDL (Northern District of California) has continued to move forward since the end of 2019. The judge has appointed plaintiffs’ attorneys to leadership roles, and the steering committee is starting to organize. Key appointments include:

Co-lead counsel: Sarah London, Dean Kawamoto, Ellen Relkin, Dena Sharp

Plaintiffs’ federal/state court liaison counsel: Khaldoun Baghdadi, Leslie LaMacchia

Plaintiffs’ government entity liaison counsel: Thomas Cartmell

Plaintiffs’ steering committee: Rachel Abrams, Erin Dickinson, Michelle Drake, Jonathan Gdanski, Adam Gutride, Bradly Honnold, Emily Jeffcott, Kristine Kraft, Esfand Nafisi, Matthew Schultz, Sabita Soneji, Joseph VanZandt, Mikal Watts, Michael Weinkowitz.

Look for this mass tort litigation to gain momentum in the coming months. Talc The other newsmaker is the Johnson & Johnson talc case, which recently made headlines when the company pulled its baby powder from the market. Although not an admission of guilt, this permanent discontinuance of the company’s flagship product may prompt the plaintiffs’ bar to seek out more claimants, and we believe J&J will continue to fight what is likely to be a growing number of cases. Other companies, including L’Oreal and Chanel, are also being sued for selling OTC talcum powders allegedly contaminated by asbestos; this may ultimately pull them into the same type of mass tort litigation. New MDLs Zantac A new MDL has been formed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and leadership has been appointed. It is forecast to be one of the largest MDLs in recent history, given the fact that the heartburn drug has been on the market since the early 1980s, with around 20 million prescriptions written every year. The makers have allegedly been aware of the carcinogenic properties of its active compound for decades, with numerous studies linking the chemical to cancer. Judge Robin Rosenberg has made a strong effort to appoint a more diverse leadership than is typically found in many other MDLs. The diversity issue—across gender, age, ethnicity and race—has long been discussed in legal academic circles. She also created a “leadership development committee” to give younger lawyers an opportunity to immerse themselves in the logistics of a major MDL while learning from experienced mentors. Evolving Mass Torts COVID-19 and Nursing Homes Despite the complexities involved with the potential for multiple defendants, we foresee the lawsuits against nursing homes due to COVID-19 deaths leading to an MDL or consolidated litigation. In addition to the various nursing homes involved, other entities, including healthcare workers, cleaning companies and home health agencies that came into the facilities to provide a service, may also be held accountable and could potentially become defendants or involved in the litigation.  Certain state governments are signaling they may grant immunity for civil and criminal liability to state-run facilities, but it remains to be seen what will happen at the plaintiffs’ bar, given the public and political pressures around these deaths. Boys Scouts of America The sexual abuse litigation against the Boy Scouts of America is now permitting tort claimants to submit a claim within a larger bankruptcy proceeding, in which the national organization filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to stay individual lawsuits brought by sexual abuse survivors. The full scope of the liabilities is not yet known, but a bankruptcy court has set a November 2020 deadline by which abuse survivors must file a proof of claim. It is anticipated that any plan of reorganization approved by the court will involve a settlement mechanism resolving claims brought by abuse survivors. Elmiron The drug Elmiron, which treats interstitial cystitis, bladder pain and osteoarthritis, is being linked to permanent eyesight damage, including macular degeneration and pigmentary and retinal maculopathy. A number of studies dating to 2018 have revealed risks associated with long-term use of Elmiron. Mass tort law firms are looking for claimants now. Elmiron was developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary). For information on how Verus’ Case Management and Medical Review services can apply specifically to the Mass Tort cases above, click here. To contact us, fill out this form or email us at [email protected] and we will reply immediately. |CONTACT US| |REQUEST PROPOSAL| The post 2020 Mid Year Update: Mass Tort and Class Action Litigation Outlook appeared first on Verus.