Depo-Provera MDL Judge Pushes for Meningioma Lawsuits To Be Filed Quicker

The number of unfiled Depo-Provera meningioma claims could impact MDL leadership positions assigned to certain plaintiffs’ lawyers.

The U.S. District Judge presiding over all federal Depo-Provera lawsuits has ordered plaintiffs lawyers to disclose how many meningioma claims remain unfiled, suggesting they are holding back on filing large numbers of the lawsuits until critical rulings are issued on preemption motions later this year.

There are currently more than 550 product liability lawsuits pending in the federal court system against both Pfizer and generic manufacturers of Depo-Provera, a quarterly birth control shot that has been used by tens of millions of women over the past few decades.

Each complaint makes similar allegations that the manufacturers failed to provide adequate warnings about Depo-Provera brain tumor risks, and it is widely expected that several thousand meningioma lawsuits will eventually be filed by former users of the birth control shot.

Concerns about the long-term side effects of the injections began to grow following studies published last year, which linked Depo-Provera to an increased risk of intracranial meningiomas. Some of the findings linked Depo-Provera injections to a five-fold increased risk of brain tumors for some women.

Due to common claims of fact and law in lawsuits filed in U.S. District Courts nationwide, all federal Depo-Provera lawsuits have been centralized in the Northern District of Florida under U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers, who is presiding over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

Shortly after she was appointed to oversee the claims, Judge Rodgers ordered the parties to prepare five “pilot” cases for early bellwether trials, which will result in rulings on several key issues and allow the parties to gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the claims.

One of the primary defenses raised by Pfizer involves an argument that the failure to warn claims are preempted by federal law, indicating that the drug maker was unable to strengthen the warning label. Under the current pretrial schedule, Judge Rodgers is expected to issue a ruling on this defense by the end of the year.

Judge Seeks Count of Unfiled Depo-Provera Lawsuits

Today is the deadline for the parties to complete preemption discovery, and oral arguments on the motion are currently scheduled for September 29, according to a case management order (PDF) issued by Judge Rodgers on July 14. However, that order also raised questions about the number of claims still waiting to be filed.

“At the time of [plaintiffs’] leadership selection, it was represented to the Court that there were hundreds of cases waiting to be filed, and implicit in the Court’s questioning on this topic was an expectation that those selected for leadership roles would promptly file their cases on the MDL docket. The Court now makes that expectation explicit.”

-Judge M. Casey Rodgers, Case Management Order No. 4

Two days later, Judge Rodgers issued a pretrial order (PDF) calling the apparent strategy to delay filing claims until after the preemption ruling “disruptive,” ordering lawyers previously appointed to plaintiffs’ leadership positions to certify the number of unfiled Depo-Provera lawsuits by July 31.

Judge Rodgers indicates that if plaintiffs’ attorneys file a massive number of lawsuits after the preemption hearings, the Court will have to consider “whether counsel from those firms should be allowed to remain in a Leadership position.”

If the cases survive preemption rulings, it will clear the way for the pilot lawsuits to go to trial. Although the outcomes of those trials will not be binding on other claims, they are expected to provide critical insight into how juries respond to key arguments and testimony, potentially paving the way for broader Depo-Provera settlement negotiations.

The next case management conference is scheduled for August 22.

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