About 1700 federal cases sit in the MDL for the product Levaquin makers.  Levaquin is an antibiotic used to treat a variety of bacterial infections, including upper respiratory infections. Plaintiffs in the MDL allege they have been prescribed Levaquin, and allege that it causes tendons to rupture. They claim that defendants’ warnings about this alleged side effect were inadequate.  Defendants deny these allegations.

In this mass tort, the MDL court has begun to try bellwether cases. Recently the MDL court rejected a plaintiff’s post-trial motion after he lost the third such trial. See Straka v. Johnson & Johnson, No. 08-5742 (D. Minn., 9/28/12).  A jury found that the alleged failure to warn Straka’s prescribing physician about the risk of tendon rupture did not cause the plaintiff’s injuries. After trial, one issue was the ubiquitous and almost never prevailing “verdict against the weight of the evidence” argument.  The court disposed of this by noting the sufficient evidence at trial supporting the jury’s finding in that Straka’s injuries were caused by something other than Levaquin, and that a different warning would not have changed his physician’s decision to prescribe Levaquin. Defendants presented evidence about Straka’s steroid use and testimony that steroid use can contribute to tendon injury without the use of Levaquin.  And defendants did a good job presenting evidence that the prescriber could not remember reading the Levaquin label and did not learn of the tendon-associated risks of Levaquin until well after the black box warning was added and a Dear Doctor letter was distributed.

Perhaps more interesting for the trial lawyers among our readers is the argument for a new trial because one juror worked for a company that had a business connection to one of the defendants. Specifically the juror disclosed after trial began that her employer provided services to one of the defendants’ (J&J) disability insurance carrier. Straka contended the doctrine of “implied bias” required the court to strike this juror. But the juror could not recall having ever worked on a Johnson & Johnson issue, and she indicated that she was unaware what proportion of her work came indirectly from Johnson & Johnson. When asked if her company’s connection with Johnson & Johnson would affect her ability to be fair and impartial, she said no.

The doctrine of implied bias (also referred to in some cases as “implicit bias”) requires a court to strike a juror in extreme situations where the relationship between a prospective juror and some aspect of the litigation is such that it is highly unlikely that the average person could remain impartial in his deliberations under the circumstances. See Sanders v. Norris, 529 F.3d 787, 792 (8th Cir. 2008).  The juror here did not have the type of financial relationship that would require the Court to presume implied bias: she was not employed by defendants, or even employed by a company that worked directly for Johnson & Johnson.  Nor was it unlikely that the average person could remain impartial in deliberations in this situation. She was sufficiently removed from Johnson & Johnson that she did not realize that her company did any work relating to the defendants until a co-worker recognized it. So no error in proceeding.

[FYI, according to the court, some MDL parties discussed have discussed a tentative settlement agreement reached on September 25, 2012, in a conference held in front of Chief Magistrate Judge Boylan. This tentative settlement agreement is being drafted, and involves the case inventories of 6 law firms. The effect of this settlement would reduce the MDL case count by 845 cases and plaintiffs. At the time of the status conference several other plaintiffs’ firms have expressed an interest in exploring settlement, but there remain firms that are interested in going forward with the litigation, according to the court.]