Susan Barfield (00:06):
Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of Tort Talk Thursday, as always, here with Joe Fantini. Joe, thanks so much for taking time to connect with us this week and share all the updates and insights in the world of mass torts.
Joe Fantini (00:18):
Thanks for having me, Susan. Always love getting together with you to go over the latest developments in this world that we live in of mass torts.
Susan Barfield (00:27):
Yeah, and before we hop right in and start talking about the different litigations, one I just wanted to start off and, and today’s sponsor is Tort Experts. I just wanted to thank Experts for sponsoring this episode. Just if, if you haven’t had a moment to visit with them, I highly suggest you reach out to that team. The one thing that I’m most impressed with is that they’ve really redefined the legal case acquisition for law firms. They have this innovative approach which integrates technology, data analytics, and the transparency to delivering a streamlined and efficient solution for law firms. So, thanks again to Tort Experts for today’s sponsorship. Um, Joe, why don’t we start off and talk a little bit first about the J and J bankruptcy. I know that the DOJ filed a motion to dismiss the bankruptcy petition. Tell us about that and what’s next.
Joe Fantini (01:16):
Yeah, so big development. We have the third bankruptcy ongoing here by J and J. This time down in Texas. The court ruled it’s gonna stay down in Texas, and after that the DOJ just filed a motion to dismiss. They’re making all the arguments we’ve been talking about here saying this is the third bite at the apple. The two previous ones have be been dismissed. The Supreme Court ruling in Purdue prevents J and J from getting these non-consensual third party releases. And then what was really striking to me was the DOJ called JJ out and said, this is textbook bad faith filing. So J and J’s response is due in 21 days. We’ll have a reply and then oral argument in Q1 2025 that we’ll all be watching.
Susan Barfield (01:59):
Well, thanks for the update on that. Let’s next talk about the Uber MDL. I know they’re still fighting the consolidation. Tell us what that means.
Joe Fantini (02:06):
Yeah, so Uber, MDL, the cases are still increasing there. As you remember, since the start. Uber opposed the consolidation. Once it got coordinated in the MDL, they’ve been fighting it. They requested that the MDL be dismantled, that got denied and now recently it took it all the way up to the Ninth Circuit. Just had oral arguments there. What they’re arguing is there’s a clause in their agreement that says we can have coordinate actions. This is a really big ruling and it could impact everybody here in the mass tort industry ’cause we could see other companies try to adopt that if it’s allowed to survive. Previously it was denied by the JPML, the MDL Court in California. Now we’re hoping the Ninth Circuit comes down on our side as well. We’ll expect a ruling in a couple months on that.
Susan Barfield (02:52):
Great. We’ll be following that litigation. Lastly, Suboxone, I know there’s a motion to dismiss that’s pending. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Joe Fantini (03:00):
Yeah, so Suboxone, we saw a lot of activity going on with this tolling agreement where basically everybody was submitting their cases to this list. Instead of filing an MDL about only 700 cases pending, I’m hearing over 10,000 cases on this tolling agreement. While that’s ongoing, we see the usual tactics by the defendants. They filed a motion to dismiss alleging that the design defect and the failure to warrant claims are preempted. We’re feeling pretty good on our response. Expect that motion to dismiss to be denied. We’ll get these cases really cranking up with discovery in the beginning of next year.
Susan Barfield (03:36):
Joe, thank you again for taking a little bit of time to share the updates on these litigations. Also, thank you again to Tort Experts for sponsoring today’s Tort Talk Thursday. Joe, have a great week and we will talk this time next week.
Joe Fantini (03:50):
Thanks for having me, Susan.
