Levaquin Lawsuits Filed in New Jersey Over Tendon Ruptures

Three new Levaquin Lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson and Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals in New Jersey state court, joining other similar cases filed in state and federal courts throughout the country, alleging that the antibiotic caused plaintiffs to suffer painful tendon ruptures.

Levaquin (levofloxacin) was first approved by the FDA in December 1996 to prevent infection by stopping reproduction of bacteria. However, a number of users have developed Levaquin tendon ruptures and tendonitis as a side effect of the medication, which the complaints allege Johnson & Johnson failed to adequately warn about.

The new cases were filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Atlantic County, where attorneys are seeking to consolidate a number of other lawsuits over Levaquin filed throughout the state before Judge Carol Higbee, who has presided over a number of similar mass-tort cases in the past.

The three Levaquin suits were filed on behalf of plaintiffs from different parts of the country, each alleging that they each suffered a tendon rupture in a different part of the body, involving the Achilles tendon, elbow distal bicep tendon and a tendon in the right ankle.

In July 2008, the FDA required that a “black box” warning be placed on Levaquin and similar antibiotcs warning about the risk of tendon ruptures and other tendon problems, which is the strongest warning that can be placed on a prescription medication. However, consumer advocates called for Levaquin tendon rupture warnings to be added to the medication at least two years earlier, with Public Citizen filing a petition with the FDA in 2006 insisting on stronger warnings.

Potentially thousands of users throughout the United States have suffered debilitating tendon ruptures as a side effect of Levaquin. The general theory behind the lawsuits suggests that if proper warnings had been provided to doctors and consumers about the risk of tendon damage, users of the medications would have been aware to watch for signs of tendon pain or discomfort, at which time they could have contacted their doctors before permanent damage was suffered, such as a tendon rupture.

Earlier this month, the Acting Administrative Director of the Courts in New Jersey notified the state Bar about the request to accord mass-tort treatment to Levaquin lawsuits in the state and consolidate the cases before Judge Higbee.

Similar consolidated litigation has already been established in Federal court, where tendon rupture lawsuits over Levaquin have been filed in different districts throughout the country.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized all of these similar claims in June 2008 before U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim in the District of Minnesota for pretrial litigtion. The current case management order calls for the first federal trial to begin next summer.