More Than 4000 Cases Are Pending In Federal Court MDL And The New Jersey Consolidation But There Are No Trials Scheduled

 

(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)

 

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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)

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Here is the bottom line as regards this most recent update for the Fosamax – femur fracture lawsuits:  The federal court Fosamax MDL lawsuits are in an apparent “holding pattern” while the parties wait for the appellate court to issue rulings on two appeals regarding the Fosamax label, or package insert, information about the femur fracture side effect.  And for the New Jersey state court Fosamax lawsuits, it appears that the presiding judge is content on waiting for the federal appellate court rulings to be issued.

This means little has changed since our last Fosamax litigation update back in mid-June 2015.

We can share a bit of new, updated information, which we found in Merck’s Form 10-Q SEC filing for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2015 (at pages 20-22 of this PDF document):

…on March 26, 2014, the Femur Fracture MDL court dismissed with prejudice approximately 650 cases on preemption grounds. Plaintiffs in approximately 500 of those cases are appealing that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In June 2015, the Femur Fracture MDL court dismissed without prejudice another approximately 520 cases pending plaintiffs’ appeal of the preemption ruling to the Third Circuit.

As of June 30, 2015, approximately 1,040 cases were pending in the Femur Fracture MDL including the 500 cases dismissed with prejudice on preemption grounds which are pending appeal and the 520 cases dismissed without prejudice…..

As of June 30, 2015, approximately 3,095 cases alleging Femur Fractures have been filed in New Jersey state court and are pending before Judge Jessica Mayer in Middlesex County….

As of June 30, 2015, approximately 510 cases alleging Femur Fractures have been filed in California state court….   There are presently no trial ready cases in California.

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As regards that last point, in the federal court Fosamax MDL and the New Jersey consolidation there are no trials scheduled at the present time, either. 

As we do not have any more to provide in terms of an update at the present time, we will provide a “look-back” at where we have come from over the past year to get to this point by means of these items taken from our Side Effects Blog site:

Fosamax – Femur Fracture Lawsuits Update: California Verdict For Merck In April 2015 With Two More California Trials Scheduled For July 2015 And October 2015

First 2015 Update On Fosamax Femur Fracture Litigation: Not Much New Information To Report Out

December 2014 Fosamax – Femur Fracture Litigation Update: In The Fosamax Federal Court MDL There Are Dismissals, Appeals, And Court-Ordered Mediations

End Of Summer 2014 Update: Fosamax – Femur Fracture Lawsuits In The New Jersey Consolidation / Multicounty Litigation

We may have more to report about developments as regards the Fosamax – femur fracture lawsuits by the end of the year.  And we certainly hope that we will be bringing you good news then — such as successful federal court appeals and scheduled trial dates in the MDL, New Jersey, and California.

 

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