A hearing is underway that will determine whether or not Xarelto lawsuits filed in federal court will be consolidated. If these individual Xarelto lawsuits are consolidated, the matter will be considered what is known as a Multidistrict Litigation, or an MDL. In order to determine whether or not individual lawsuits will be combined into an MDL, a hearing is held and arguments are made in front of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, or JPML. The hearing with regards to the possible Xarelto MDL is being held in federal court in South Carolina. If the panel decides that an MDL is proper in this matter, those cases and perhaps additional individual claims would be in essence brought together to speed the overall process of obtaining results.
MDL’s Explained
Congress created the MDL system with legislation in 1968. The purpose was to streamline legal matters that relate to complex litigation that affects people in several different federal districts. The main purpose behind MDL’s is to consolidate the pretrial proceedings that include the discovery phase and the handling of pretrial motions. The hope behind MDL’s is that they will lead to consistent decisions with regards to these phases of litigation. MDL’s are proper only for civil cases and not for criminal claims. The entire process is supposed to avoid both plaintiffs and defendants spending years litigating matters. Dangerous drug lawsuits are often consolidated into MDL’s.
Xarelto Lawsuits and the Potential for an MDL
In order for an MDL to be approved, the JPML needs to find that there are one or more common questions of fact among the individual plaintiffs who have filed claims against a defendant or defendants. If such common questions of fact are found, then an MDL will usually be formed. With regards to Xarelto, many would argue that there are common questions of fact regarding the use of this blood-thinning medication.
Xarelto is manufactured and marketed by Bayer Corporation and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. All of the existing Xarelto lawsuits have been filed against these defendants. The allegations involved in these lawsuits basically state that Xarelto side effects including the risk of internal bleeding led to extreme harm for the plaintiffs. In addition, there is no antidote for Xarelto, making the situation that much more difficult.
Potential common questions of fact for these Xarelto lawsuits could include:
- Do Xarelto side effects exist?
- If so, did the defendants know, or should they have known about these risks?
- Did Xarelto side effects lead to the harm suffered by the plaintiffs?
There could be additional questions, but the examples above could be examples used by those who are seeking a Xarelto MDL.
If you or someone you love has been harmed by this medication, you need to take action to protect yourself. Contact the Xarelto lawyers at Parilman & Associates today to schedule a free initial consultation. You can either email the firm or call 800-800-DRUG.
