Digitek Recall Lawsuits to be Coordinated Between Federal and State Court

The Digitek recall lawsuits which are currently consolidated in an MDL before Judge Joseph Goodwin in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia will be coordinated with state court lawsuits pending in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia.

In August 2008, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation formed an MDL for all federal Digitek lawsuits filed on behalf of individuals who allege that they were injured or killed by defective and oversized tablets of the generic heart drug digoxin.

All cases filed against the manufacturer and distributors of Digitek were transferred from various district courts throughout the country to Judge Goodwin’s Court in West Virginia for pretrial litigation.

A growing number of state court lawsuits over the Digitek recall have also been filed in West Virginia, as that is the principal place of business for one of the defendants in the litigation, Mylan Laboratories, Inc.

According to a Pretrial Order issued by Judge Goodwin on February 4, 2009, the state court and federal MDL will coordinate their discovery, status conferences and hearings to avoid unnecessary conflicts and expenses, conserve judicial resources and expedite the disposition of all cases.

All of the claims involve allegations that the plaintiffs were injured after receiving recalled Digitek tablets that contained more of the medication than they were supposed to. As a result, the plaintiffs claim that they suffered digitalis toxicity, which could result in arrhythmias, heart failure or death.

According to Judge Goodwin’s order, the cases will be coordinated since they share common issues and will involve common discovery. Any document depository that is established will be made available to the parties in both the state court and federal court Digitek litigation, and plaintiffs in both courts will have access to the common benefit work done by the MDL’s Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee.

Judge Goodwin has also indicated that the MDL court is prepared to conduct consolidated hearings and status conferences with the presiding state court judge, and to enter joint rulings when possible, to avoid unnecessary conflicts and inconsistencies.

The litigation is still in its early stages, and it is expected that Digitek recall lawyers will file an increasing number of cases in the coming months as their investigation into potential claims are complete.

According to a report released in December by Center for Public Justic, a nonprofit organization which reviewed FDA adverse event reports, Digitek problems were linked to at least 667 deaths that were reported to the FDA between April 1 and June 30, 2008.