Under the drug maker's proposal, plaintiffs would have to first establish that Suboxone film strips cause tooth decay and dental erosion, before any case-specific discovery begins in the recently established Suboxone MDL.
Although plaintiffs' lawyers have proposed a tolling agreement to avoid flooding the court with tooth decay lawsuits over the next two months, the drug maker has refused to extend any Suboxone statute of limitations deadlines.
The complaint will be centralized with a growing number of other Suboxone dental erosion lawsuits in the Northern District of Ohio, as part of a federal MDL or multidistrict litigation.
It is expected that the Court will soon approve a Master Complaint and Short Form Complaint, which will allow new Suboxone lawsuits involving tooth decay to be filed using an abbreviated form.
Plaintiffs and defendants are working jointly on a motion which will allow new Suboxone tooth decay lawsuits to be directly filed with the MDL court.
Group of 18 Suboxone lawyers have submitted a consensus motion for the plaintiffs' leadership committee, which will take actions that benefit all individuals pursuing lawsuits over tooth decay from Suboxone
Following the centralization of all Suboxone lawsuits as part of a federal MDL, lawyers must file applications by March 1 to serve in various leadership positions during the consolidated pretrial proceedings.
Manufacturers are accused of placing profits before the safety of the individuals suffering from opioid addiction, by introducing Suboxone strips without warning about the risk of dental erosion and tooth decay.
Risk of dental erosion from Suboxone was known to the drug maker, yet lawsuit indicates that users and medical community were not adequately warned about the potential side effects.
U.S. JPML Determined that Suboxone tooth decay lawsuits filed throughout the federal court system will be centralized in the Northern District of Ohio for discovery and pretrial proceedings.
