Susan Barfield (00:06):
Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of Tort Talk Thursday, where I’m here week over week with one of my favorite attorneys, Joe Fantini, with Rosen Injury Lawyers. Joe, thanks so much for spending a little time with us this morning and getting us up to speed on what’s happening in the world of mass torts.
Joe F. (00:21):
Thanks for having me, Susan. Always love meeting with you and discussing the latest developments and all things mass tort.
Susan Barfield (00:26):
Yeah, and I know we’re going to dive right in and talk a little bit about Zantac Ozempic and Toxic Baby Food. But before we do, just wanted to stop for a moment and say thank you to today’s sponsor, which is Consumer Tort Group. Consumer Tort Group is transforming the legal marketing industry with a fully integrated approach to mass tort cases, and what I really appreciate is they do everything in-house, so they own the process of creating the ads and the landing pages, and they own their own call center. So to me, what this really helps with is mitigating fraud and owning control of those new leads. So thank you consumer tort group for sponsoring today’s Tort Talk Thursday. Okay. With that, Joe, what is going on with Zantac?
Joe F. (01:08):
Zantac? This has been a rollercoaster of a litigation. Last week we talked about the trial case out in Chicago that ended up settling. This week we have some bad news, another defense verdict. This is the second defense verdict we’ve gotten out of Illinois. This was a colorectal case. Again, another tough case, but everybody needs to keep in mind that the defendants always have the chance to settle and usually settle the real bad cases before they get the verdict. So we’re moving forward in Delaware. There’s a bellwether process in place there. A lot of people are exciting and getting new cases for Zantac. I think there’s still opportunity and ultimately we’ll get a good result in this litigation overall.
Susan Barfield (01:49):
Okay, awesome. Well, as far as Ozempic, I heard science day is coming up. Can you tell us a little bit about what’s happening there?
Joe F. (01:57):
Ozempic is moving forward. We’re working on finalizing the plaintiff fact sheet, which is a questionnaire that all the plaintiffs, once they file the complaints will need to complete. That should be done here in the next month or two, and then in the fall we’re going to get the signs stay. So the science day is an opportunity where both sides get to present their facts and the evidence and sometimes even some experts that they’re going to rely on to educate the court and the judge about the nuances and the background history of this medication. So it’s a really good opportunity for us to get in front of the judge, explain to the complications, the seriousness of these injuries our clients are getting, and lay out a roadmap for how we’re going to prove our cases going forward. So that’s coming up in the fall, and then this litigation’s really going to take off after there. So a lot of excitement about Ozempic, which I think is going to be another big case for us.
Susan Barfield (02:46):
Yeah, that is exciting. Okay, and lastly, what is going on with toxic baby food?
Joe F. (02:51):
Toxic baby food, we have the MDL ongoing right now. The litigation’s growing at a pretty slow pace. We have only 31 cases filed in the MDL, I’m told from some of our colleagues, there’s thousands of cases under investigation. We recently filed the master complaint. We’re going to have some dispositive motions on that should be decided before the end of the year. In the meantime, the judge is doing a good job getting us together for regular case conferences, working on Discovery Protocol, so expect by the end of this year a ruling, and then the litigation’s really going to pick up in 2025.
Susan Barfield (03:25):
Good. It sounds like lots of movement in 2025 to look forward to in Mass Torts.
Joe F. (03:30):
Yeah, definitely going to be a big year.
Susan Barfield (03:31):
Awesome. As always, Joe, thanks so much for spending a little bit of time with us and sharing what you’ve learned over the last week in the world of Mass Torts.
Joe F. (03:39):
Thanks for having me, Susan. Yeah,
Susan Barfield (03:40):
Absolutely. Okay, and if you want to hear a little bit more a week over week from Joe on what’s happening in Mass Torts, subscribe to Tort Talk Thursday. And again, thank you so much for Consumer Tort Group for sponsoring today’s episode. If you want to learn more, feel free to reach out and look them up at consumertortgroup.com. Thanks everyone.
