Susan B. (00:06):
Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of Tort Talk Thursday. Glad to be here with Joe Fantini of Rosen Injury Lawyers. Joe, thanks for spending time today to talk all things mass tort.
Joe F. (00:17):
Thanks for having me, Susan. Always love getting together with you each week to go over the latest developments here in the mass tort world.
Susan B. (00:23):
Fantastic. And before we dive right in, Joe, and hear your latest and greatest insights, just want to take a moment and thank Blue Sky Legal for sponsoring today’s episode. If you haven’t talked with the folks over at Blue Sky Legal really encourage you to take a moment and reach out to them. They are a mass tort marketing firm. They deliver law firms with high quality claimants through data-driven media campaigns that are both innovative and effective. They’re fresh perspective and proven expertise deliver measurable success for mass tort firms and litigation funders. So thank you again to Blue Sky Legal. Okay, Joe, tell us about a new tort that is on the horizon. I’m interested to hear a little bit more about it.
Joe F. (01:03):
Yeah, just this week, the EPA put out a notice about a pesticide. It’s called dacthal. This is a new one that we got this urgent warning to stop using a very rare warning coming up by the EPA. So basically this pesticide is used often to treat crops like broccoli, and we’ve seen it’s been on the market for decades. Unfortunately. Now the research is showing that pregnant women who are exposed to this, they’re unborn children later when they’re born, suffer from low IQ birth defects, other problems as they go throughout the life. So now we’re investigating these claims. We had this triggering event with the EPA, so we’re already out there marketing. It could be a good mass too, because the liability seems strong and the injuries are very severe. We’re looking into the viability of the defendant, but I expect this to blow up into a mass tort in the beginning of 2025.
Susan B. (01:58):
Really interesting. Thanks for sharing that update. What’s the latest on J and J?
Joe F. (02:02):
J and J. So we had the deadline at the end of July for everybody to submit. Whether or not they wanted to agree to J and J’s third bankruptcy filing. Reports out of Bloomberg is that they’ve reached the 75% threshold they were trying to reach. Just because they have that number, that doesn’t mean that the bankruptcy is going to be successful. We expect them to file here within the next month or so. As you remember, the previously two, they were kicked out for violations of the bankruptcy code. Plaintiffs intend to make the same arguments here for this third bankruptcy. Unfortunately, expect this to drag out for the next year or so, while the women continue to suffer.
Susan B. (02:41):
Well, and Joe, the last thing to talk about today, I know you’re following just like us really closely, the Zantac litigation. So what is new there?
Joe F. (02:49):
Zantac two developments on two different fronts. So we have going on in Philadelphia court, a common plea. My home court here where I previously clerked Judge Roberts, who oversees the whole entire mass tort program there in Philadelphia. The plaintiffs filed a recusal motion here in Zantac. They’re alleging that Judge Roberts, who’s married to a partner at Reed Smith, a very prominent defense firm and represents GSK. There’s the appearance of impropriety, no wrongdoing being alleged against Judge Roberts, but plaintiffs making an oral argument to have him recuse from this case. We’ll see how that plays out. While we’re doing that in Philadelphia, moving towards bellwether trials in the beginning of 2025 and Delaware, the bellwether cases are already selected. Just recently had an order entered requiring plaintiffs to file an individual complaint. And then also deadlines are in place at the end of October to submit the proof of use. And then at the end of January, all plaintiffs the 70,000 plus required to submit proof of injury. So a lot of work to get done, but good to see those cases moving forward.
Susan B. (03:56):
Yeah, that’s definitely great news. Well, as always, Joe, thanks so much for taking a little bit of time out of your week to share the updates and insights with me and with the industry. Also, thanks again to Blue Sky Legal for sponsoring today’s episode. Hope everyone has a great rest of the week.
Joe F. (04:11):
Thanks for having me, Susan.
