Thousands of Seroquel Lawsuits Should Be Remanded for Trial: Judge

A federal judge has indicated that thousands of federal lawsuits over Seroquel, which involve claims that the atypical antipsychotic caused plaintiffs to develop diabetes and other injuries, should be sent back to district courts throughout the United States for individual trials. 

Since July 2006, all Seroquel lawsuits filed in federal courts throughout the United States have been consolidated for pretrial litigation before U.S. District Judge Anne Conway in the Middle District of Florida as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL). There are currently approximately 6,300 plaintiff lawsuits against Seroquel pending in the MDL, with all of the cases involving similar claims that AstraZenca failed to adequately warn about the risk of diabetes and other health problems from Seroquel.

The MDL was established to avoid duplicative discovery on issues common to all cases, to eliminate conflicting pretrial rulings by different judges throughout the country and to serve the convenience of the witnesses, the parties and the courts. However, Judge Conway has determined that there is nothing left to be gained by continuing to have the cases consolidated in her court, and has recommended that the lawsuits be remanded back to their original district courts for further case-specific proceedings.

“The Court finds that these cases will no longer benefit from centralized proceedings; all common discovery and other coordinated pretrial proceedings are complete, and the remaining case-specific issues are best left to the transferor courts to decide,” wrote Judge Conway in a Final Pretrial Order and Suggestion of Remand issued May 13, 2010.

In addition to the federal Seroquel cases pending as part of the MDL, there are about 22,000 claims pending in state courts in Delaware, New Jersey and elsewhere. There are also about 1,000 federal lawsuits filed in the Northern District of California that the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation declined to transfer into the Seroquel MDL several months ago because the litigation had already reached “an advanced stage.”

AstraZeneca has opposed the remand of the cases, which will increase the pressure on the drug maker as individual proceedings move forward simultaneously in thousands of cases spread across the United States. However, Plaintiffs have been pushing for the cases to move forward, indicating that drug maker has stated they intend to defend the cases at trial and the work of the MDL has been complete for several months. In a motion filed April 20 urging Judge Conway to remand the Seroquel cases, plaintiffs pointed out that “AstraZeneca has spent over $1 billion (in legal costs) in large part facilitating the defense strategy of delay.”

In November 2009, Judge Conway ordered both sides to meet with a mediator to see if there is any possibility for a Seroquel settlement. However, plaintiffs argued that there was no reason to delay the remand while alternative dispute resolution (ADR) continues, as justice would not be served by making plaintiffs wait just because later ADR may produce a settlement.