New Court Order Sets Deadlines for Federal Proton Pump Inhibitor Lawsuits

Published on November 20, 2017 by Sandy Liebhard

A federal court in New Jersey has issued a new Order setting forth a number of deadlines for Nexium lawsuits and other legal claims involving the alleged link between proton pump inhibitors and serious kidney side effects.

315 Proton Pump Inhibitor Lawsuits Now Pending

At least 315 proton pump inhibitor lawsuits are pending in the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, all of which were filed on behalf of patients who claim that their use of Nexium, Prilosec, PrevAcid, and other drugs in this class led to the development of:

• Kidney Failure
• Chronic Kidney Disease
• Acute Interstitial Nephritis
• Acute Kidney Injury

Product liability claims involving proton pump inhibitors and kidney injuries began to mount in early 2015, after several studies suggested that their long-term use could lead to serious renal injury. Plaintiffs claim that the drugs’ manufacturers knew of these risks for years, and had in fact received hundreds of reports linking their products to kidney failure and other kidney complications, yet failed to provide patients and doctors with appropriate notification of the danger.

Proton Pump Inhibitor Litigation Convenes November Case Management Conference

Earlier this year, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) centralized all federally-filed proton pump inhibitor lawsuits alleging kidney injuries in the District of New Jersey, so as to to allow the docket to undergo coordinated discovery and other pretrial proceedings.

Court documents indicate that the litigation convened its most recent Case Management Conference on November 8^th.  On November 16^th, the Court issued its 5^th Case Management Order, which set forth a number of new deadlines, including:

• November 10, 2017: Deadline for the parties to submit a final proposed ESI Order.
• November 17, 2017: Deadline for the parties to submit an agreed-to Privilege Log Order.
• December 13, 2017: Deadline for the parties to submit an agreed-upon Plaintiff Fact Sheet (PFS), as well as a proposed Case Management Order governing PFS production.
• December 13, 2017: Deadline to submit an agreed-to Direct Filing Order (DFO), which is to include provisions for a Master Complaint, Master Answer, Short Form Adoption by Reference Complaints and Short Form Adoption by Reference Answers.
• January 29 through February 2, 2018: ESI depositions of Procter & Gamble defendants are to be completed. The remaining noticed 30(b)(6) depositions are to be completed March 9, 2018.
• February 1 to March 9, 2018: The parties are to make their best efforts to complete noticed 30(b)(6) deposition for Takeda defendants.
• The parties are to meet and confer on a Scheduling Order and report back to the Court at the next status conference.

The federal proton pump inhibitor litigation will convene that conference on December 18, 2017 at 1:00 p.m.