The first four Xarelto bellwether cases have been slated for hearings under Judge Eldon E. Fallon’s alignment. The Xarelto lawsuits have been consolidated and in February 2017 are set to begin. The federal Xarelto MDL is listed under Case No. 2592 filed against Xarelto manufacturers, Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals for pretrial proceedings and bellwether trials. The initial two Xarelto bellwether trials will take place in the Eastern District of Louisiana, where the MDL is centralized. On February 6, 2017 the first trial will be held and the second will take place on March 13, 2017. In additionally, the third and fourth bellwether cases will be heard on April 24 and May 30, 2017, in federal district courts yet to be specified in Mississippi and Texas, subsequently.
After inspecting 7,200 Xarelto lawsuits the U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon picked two cases for the first “bellwether” trials in February 2017. The first case for the trial involve Joseph Boudreaux lawsuit, a man from Louisiana who experienced severe gastrointestinal bleeding right after the use of Xarelto. He started the mediation to prevent strokes and embolisms and less than a month before he began severe internal bleeding. He was hospitalized to receive several blood transfusions. He filed the lawsuit in December 2014 under the case No. 2:14-cv-02720.
Three more cases for the next trials were also picked by Judge Fallon. The second trial will involve the case of Joseph Orr, the husband of a woman who used Xarelto for about a month before she died from bleeding in the brain (cerebral hemorrhage). The case will go to trial in Louisiana under the Case No. 2:15-cv-03708.
The third case will be heard on April 24, 2017 which involves Dora Mingo, a woman who was injured by gastrointestinal bleeding after using Xarelto to treat blood clots. The case will go to trial in Mississippi under the Case No. 2:15-cv-03469. At present there are 7,254 Xarelto lawsuits to be centralized in Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2592). The conclusion of each “bellwether” trials is not irrevocable on other lawsuits in the MDL. Instead, lawyers use the outcomes to determine the value of certain injuries during settlement negotiations.
The fourth and the last case picked by Judge Eldon Fallon will be heard on May 30, 2017. The case will go to trial in Texas under the Case No. 2:15-cv-00224. This case is associated with William Henry, a plaintiff who died due to gastrointestinal bleeding caused by Xarelto. He took Xarelto to prevent atrial fibrillation and the adverse effect of the drug lead him to death.
Xarelto bleeding lawsuits continue to increase in number. Several negative and potentially fatal side effects occurs, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against Xarelto manufacturers. Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals failed to adequately warn doctors as well as patients about the adverse effects cause by the life threatening drug Xarelto and the manufacturers were reckless in releasing the drug to market without a corresponding antidote. Probably the drug makers had knowledge of the dangers of Xarelto. Xarelto bellwether trial is designed to achieve value ascertainment function for settlement purposes and to provide the parties involved with an estimate of what will happen when the rest of the cases go for trial.