Another Lipitor Lawsuit Filed As Plaintiffs Gear Up for Bellwether Trials

Philadelphia, PAAnother Lipitor lawsuit has been filed alleging the plaintiff suffered serious Lipitor side effects. Meanwhile, those involved in Lipitor multidistrict litigation (MDL) are gearing up for the first bellwether trials to be heard in Lipitor litigation.

The Pennsylvania Record (4/21/14) reports that Mary Hoover filed a lawsuit in US District Court in Philadelphia, alleging she developed diabetes due to her use of Lipitor from 2006 to 2012. According to the lawsuit, Hoover was very healthy prior to taking Lipitor, but took the drug to decrease her risk of heart disease. The plaintiff says that if she had known of the risk of taking Lipitor, she would not have used the drug because her risks now due to diabetes include heart disease and blindness.

The lawsuit alleges Pfizer failed to properly warn about the risks of taking Lipitor.

The lawsuit is similar to those included in the Lipitor multidistrict litigation (MDL) for pretrial proceedings. According to a transfer order in which 56 lawsuits were transferred to the MDL, the plaintiffs in all 56 actions allege they developed type 2 diabetes because of their use of Lipitor. Furthermore, the plaintiffs all allege that Pfizer, maker of Lipitor, knew or should have known about the risks but failed to warn about those risks.

A motion for consolidation of the lawsuits was denied in 2013 because the panel on multidistrict litigation found it was unnecessary, with almost half of the pending actions already in one district with common plaintiffs’ counsel. At the time, there were only five actions and 24 potential tagalong actions in 13 districts. A new motion was put forward, however, with 56 actions and more than 170 tagalongs in more than 40 districts. As a result, the panel approved centralizing the lawsuits.

There are reportedly around 450 lawsuits pending in the District of South Carolina. Bellwether trials could begin in July 2015. Those trials will help attorneys determine how juries are likely to decide pending Lipitor lawsuits.

Lipitor is a statin drug used to lower the levels of LDL cholesterol in patients to decrease their risk of heart problems. A study published in 2012 in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggested that women, and particularly post-menopausal women, who used Lipitor are at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The Hoover lawsuit is federal case number 2:14-cv-02251-PD. The multidistrict litigation is In Re: Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium) marketing, salespractices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2502.