Antibiotic Nerve Damage Litigation Surges During First Month After MDL Established

During the first month after a panel of federal judges decided to consolidated all Levaquin lawsuits, Avelox lawsuits and Cipro lawsuits brought by individuals diagnosed with nerve damage from the antibiotics, the number of cases has more than doubled.

On August 17, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) established coordinated pretrial proceedings for the antibiotic nerve damage litigation, centralizing cases brought throughout the country before U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim in the District of Minnesota, as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation.

At that time, there were 78 cases pending in U.S. District Courts nationwide, each involving nearly identical allegations that the manufacturers of Levaquin, Cipro or Avelox failed to adequately warn consumers and the medical community about the risk that the popular antibiotics will cause peripheral neuropathy, resulting in permanent and disabling nerve damage.

According to the latest case list (PDF) issued by the U.S. JPML on September 15, there are already at least 195 cases pending before Judge Tunheim in the MDL.

As antibiotic nerve injury lawyers continue to review and file cases for individuals throughout the U.S., it is ultimately expected that several thousand cases will be involved in the litigation.

Nerve Damage from Levaquin, Avelox, Cipro

Levaquin, Avelox and Cipro are all part of the same class of antibiotics, known as fluoroquinolones.

The cases stem from new warnings issued by the FDA in August 2013, which indicated that the antibiotics may increase risk of peripheral neuropathy, which may leave users with nerve damage that continues long after they stop using the drugs.

Prior warnings provided by the drug makers suggested that reports of nerve damage were rare and often resolved once the medications were no longer used.

Peripheral neuropathy side effects from the antibiotics may leave users with nerve damage that impairs sensation, movement and other aspects of health. This may leave users with persistent pain, burning, tingling, numbness, weakness and sensitivity to light touches, temperature and motion in the arms and legs, as well as other problems that cause a major disruption to daily activities.

Plaintiffs allege that the drug makers have known about the risk of long-term nerve damage from the antibiotics for years, yet provided false and misleading information to consumers and the medical community.

Given the similar questions of fact and law raised in the antibiotic nerve damage lawsuits, the litigation involving all fluoroquinolones has been centralized before one judge to reduce the risk of duplicative discovery into common issues, avoid conflicting pretrial orders from different courts and to serve the convenience of the parties, witnesses and the courts.

As part of the coordinated pretrial proceedings, it is expected that a small group of lawyers will be appointed to leadership positions in the litigation, coordinating discovery and taking certain actions that will benefit all plaintiffs. It is also likely that Judge Tunheim will schedule a series of early trial dates to help gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that is likely to be repeated throughout a large number of different cases.