Lipitor Lawsuit Over Diabetes Risk for Women Set for Trial to Begin Nov. 4

The U.S. District Judge presiding over all federal Lipitor lawsuits brought by women nationwide, which allege that Pfizer failed to adequately warn about the risk of diabetes, has scheduled the first “bellwether” case to begin on November 4, 2015.

Pfizer currently faces more than 2,000 product liability lawsuits over the risk of diabetes from Lipitor, which are currently centralized in the federal court system as part of a Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) before U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel in the District of South Carolina.

As part of the coordinated pretrial proceedings in the litigation, a small group of cases have been prepared for early trial dates, known as “bellwether” trials since they are designed to help the parties gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that is likely to be repeated throughout a number of cases. While the outcome of these test trials will not be binding in other cases, they may influence eventual Lipitor diabetes settlements.

Earlier this year, Judge Gergel indicated that a Lipitor case filed by Wilma Daniels will be the first to go to trial. Following a status conference late last week, a text order was entered scheduling jury selections to begin on November 3, 2015, with the trial expected to begin the following day.

The allegations raised by Daniels are similar to those presented in many other Lipitor lawsuits over the diabetes risk for women, indicating that she was very healthy before she started using the medication as a preventative measure to lower her levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and decrease her risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Daniels began taking Lipitor in 1998, and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2004. The lawsuit notes that she must undergo regular testing for the rest of her life, adhere to a restrictive diabetic diet and take medications to control her diabetes. Instead of lowering her risk of heart disease by lowering her cholesterol, Daniels’ lawsuit points out that she is now instead at an increased risk of heart disease, blindness, neuropathy, and kidney disease due to Lipitor side effects.

The lawsuit presents claims for failure to warn, negligence, breach of warranty, fraud, unjust enrichment and violating Colorado’s consumer protection laws, indicating that Pfizer knew or should have known about the link between Lipitor and diabetes for years, yet withheld information from consumers and the medical community.

The next status conference in Lipitor litigation is set for April 23.