Legal Media Matters

Trasylol lawsuits transferred to a Miami federal court

The federal lawsuits filed against Bayer AG over the anti-bleeding drug Trasylol have been consolidated and transferred to a Miami federal court.

On April 7, the transfer order was issued by the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Because of the national scope of the litigation, the common factual questions regarding the drug’s safety profile, and the similar questions raised over the adequacy of the warnings provided by Bayer, the panel concluded that consolidation was appropriate.

In addition, the panel ruled that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida is a convenient forum. The Miami metropolitan area is easily accessible and the district has a low number of MDL dockets, the panel wrote. It assigned the litigation to U.S. District Court Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks.

On March 10, John J. Carey of Carey & Danis and Jeffrey J. Lowe of The Lowe Law Firm filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on behalf of a widow whose husband died of kidney failure after open-heart surgery.

On Dec. 16, 2005, Samuel Nakis, 81, underwent open-heart surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital in Chesterfield, Mo. During the surgery he was given Trasylol (also known as aprotinin), a clotting drug used to prevent bleeding. Shortly after the surgery, Nakis experienced kidney failure and underwent dialysis. He died a short time later.

The suit alleges that Bayer failed to warn prescribers and consumers of the dangers associated with the drug, defectively designed the drug, fraudulently concealed the dangers of the drug, breached the implied and express warranties and violated the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. The suit seeks compensatory damages and damages for aggravating circumstances.

Saufley Landfill ordered closed; nearby residents join lawsuit

NEWS RELEASE

March 11, 2008
Florida officials order hazardous landfill containing hurricane debris closed; nearby residents join suit against landfill owners

Pensacola, Fla. – The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has declared that the Saufley Landfill in Pensacola, Fla., is abandoned and will oversee the facility’s closure. In addition, 97 residents living near the landfill have been added as plaintiffs in a separate lawsuit filed against the owners.

The Saufley Landfill was opened on Jan. 31, 2005, as a repository for construction and demolition debris. After Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis the landfill received gypsum-drywall debris, which produces hydrogen sulfide gas as it degrades. Exposure to hydrogen sulfide—which gives off the foul smell of rotten eggs—causes burning eyes, headaches, nausea, fatigue and respiratory problems.

The landfill’s owners, Louisiana Investment Group LLC and Coastwide Disaster Relief & Recovery LLC, allegedly failed to follow state landfill regulations and permit conditions. As a result, an excessive amount of hydrogen sulfide has been produced at the facility—at times the concentration of the gas has been 22 times higher than the odor threshold recognized by the state department of health—and the poor conditions have allegedly caused multiple landfill fires.

Because of the excessive hydrogen sulfide levels, the Saufley Landfill was declared a public-health hazard to nearby residents. On March 4, after four contempt orders had been issued against the landfill’s owner, the FDEP entered an Order of Abandonment against LIG, concluding that it was unable to bring the landfill into regulatory compliance and could not carry out the long-term care that was needed. LIG has 21 days after receiving the order to file an administrative hearing petition.

On March 7, a lawsuit filed by nearby residents against LIG and Coastwide Disaster Relief and Recovery over the landfill conditions was amended. Ninety-seven additional residents were added to the negligence and nuisance lawsuit, which alleges that the owners’ actions have resulted in respiratory illness and physical discomfort on the part of the residents and loss of use and enjoyment of the residents’ property.

The plaintiffs are represented by Jacksonville, Fla.-based attorney Van Kirk McCombs of The Law Offices of Van Kirk McCombs II, Todd Hageman of St. Louis-based Simon Passanante and Tracy P. Moye of the Tallahassee, Fla.-based Moye Law Firm. For more information, contact Van Kirk McCombs at 904-353-1555.

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Media contact: Geri L. Dreiling
Legal Media Matters LLC
314-743-3851 or 314-520-3897
legalmediamatters@sbcglobal.net

Class action lawsuits against Aurora Dairy transferred to a St. Louis federal court

Feb. 22, 2008

St. Louis – Four class action lawsuits filed on behalf of consumers against Aurora Dairy Corp. over the company’s sale of organic milk have been consolidated and transferred to a federal court in St. Louis.

The suits allege that the Boulder, Colo.-based dairy misled consumers into believing that the milk they purchased was organic even though it failed to meet organic standards established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the federal Organic Foods Production Act. As a result, consumers paid artificially high prices.

The first class action suit was filed in the Eastern District of Missouri by the St. Louis-based law firm Simon Passanante.  Two subsequent suits were filed in the District of Colorado and another was filed in the Southern District of Florida. All four were consolidated before the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. Eleven related cases have been filed since the consolidation.

On Feb. 21, the Multidistrict Litigation Panel noted that the Eastern District of Missouri was where the first action filed is pending. The panel concluded that the Eastern District of Missouri is a convenient forum and transferred all of the cases to Judge E. Richard Webber of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

St. Louis-based Simon Passanante, P.C. handles catastrophic injury, mass tort, class action, intellectual property, consumer rights and commercial litigation cases nationwide. For more information, contact John Campbell at 314-241-2929 or e-mail jcampbell@simonpassanante.com.

Media contact: Geri L. Dreiling
Legal Media Matters LLC
314.743.3851 or 314.520.3897
legalmediamatters@sbcglobal.net