Susan Barfield (00:06):
Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of Tort Talk Thursday. Joe, it’s great to see you in the new New Year and thanks so much for taking time to connect. I’m excited about today’s episode and all the things that we’re gonna talk about Mass torts.
Joe Fantini (00:19):
Yeah, Happy New Year to you, Susan, and all of our followers here. A lot happened last year and we’re looking forward to a great year in 2025.
Susan Barfield (00:26):
Okay, so speaking of last year and what’s going on in 2025, why don’t we start off talking a little bit about kind of a, a recap of 2024 and some of the the top litigations. Why don’t you share with us a little bit about talc, what’s happening there?
Joe Fantini (00:41):
Yeah, talc. So we were all waiting for it to come down and it finally did. We had the third bankruptcy filing by j and j this time by a company in Texas. And so that’s working its way through the bankruptcy court, the trial set for February 18th. So this is gonna be a huge trial to see if the ruling in Purdue Pharmacy is gonna apply here, where these third parties who aren’t bankrupt, who have billions of dollars, are able to take advantage of the bankruptcy system or it’s gonna get kicked out. So everybody in the master world is watching it and this was a really big development in 2024 and hopefully we’ll have finality in the next 30 to 60 days here in 2025.
Susan Barfield (01:23):
Yeah, that would be fantastic. What about Roundup?
Joe Fantini (01:25):
Roundup was a huge year in 2024 and we’re expecting a bigger year in 2025. So we had a number of cases go to trial. Bayer definitely won a couple cases. I think there’s been 23 total so far. Bayer’s won maybe 15 of ’em or gotten mistrials declared, but in the ones the plaintiffs have won, there was over $6 billion in verdicts handed down. We had hundreds of millions in certain cases, billion dollar verdicts here in Philadelphia. So with that, we’re looking forward to more trials in 2025. I think there’ll be at least a dozen more cases that go to verdict while that’s going on. Bayer’s taking the case up, hopefully from their perspective to the Supreme Court on preemption. That’s another huge ruling, just like the talc bankruptcy that’s gonna shape mass torts for years to come. So we’ll all be watching that and keeping everybody updated here as that moves through the court system.
Susan Barfield (02:17):
And lastly, as it relates to recap what, tell us a little bit about CPAP.
Joe Fantini (02:21):
CPAP. That was probably the surprise of 2024. The cases were moving forward, we were getting ready to serve our expert reports, but right before that happened there ended up being a global settlement resolving about 50,000 plus cases. So everybody wasn’t really prepared for that case to settle, but it was definitely a good development and we’re looking forward to wrapping that up here in 2025.
Susan Barfield (02:44):
So talk to me a little bit about 2025. I know that we have some important deadlines approaching in January. Maybe you can share just on some of the litigations as it relates to deadlines around Depo-Provera, CPAP, uh, Suboxone and Talc.
Joe Fantini (02:58):
Yeah, so what we had happen in uh, Suboxone was defendant’s motion to dismiss. We got a ruling on that. Basically the failure to warn and design defect, the two main claims they survived. So we have an upcoming case management conference next week on January 14th. We’ll get a schedule going forward, hopefully get some bellwether trials, select it, get that case moving forward. CPAP and Zantac. We have some really big deadlines coming up at the end of this month. You need to submit your medical records and the proof of injuries for both CPAP and Zantac. So everybody’s working towards that deadline. And then we talked a little bit about tout. We have the bankruptcy trial. The schedule was originally to be the trial towards end of January. That’s going forward in February here. But what everybody’s most excited about, I think, is this Depo Berra, JPML. We had the motion to consolidate. Pfizer didn’t oppose it. They’re saying the cases should be consolidated. What they’re saying is that the cases should go to the Southern District of New York where the defendants got some favorable rulings in Zantac, where the plaintiffs are trying to get it out in California, where we’ve had other great MDLs like Roundup recently. So we’ll have the first mass tour, the biggest case that everybody’s talking about right now. That will be decided here at the end of the month in January.
Susan Barfield (04:16):
So speaking of Depo Provera and the litigations that are on your kind of watch list, things to be watching this year, you also have Paraquat. Tell us what’s happening on the forefront of Of Paraquat?
Joe Fantini (04:26):
Yeah, Paraquat, that litigation’s really heating up. I think that could be one of the first big global settlements in 2025 here in Philadelphia on January 7th. It’s a deadline for defendant’s motion for summary judgment and then motion to exclude experts, 30 days to respond. Then a reply, oral arguments likely in March with the first trial scheduled for April. I’m predicting a settlement before that case goes to the jury. So that gives us about 90 days. Another case that I think is gonna settle here pretty soon in the first or second quarter of 2025 is another one of these legacy mass torts been going on for almost 10 years, Bair hugger. So what we have in that litigation is finally some bellwether trials scheduled for March, 2025. So it looks like there’s a lot of pressure on 3M. So that’s another one I think we’re gonna be settling here early on. And then another one I have my eye on, I’m still optimistic on Roundup, I think we’ll start hearing about some settlements, firm inventory settlements, not a global in 2025. So those are the torts that got me most excited right now.
Susan Barfield (05:33):
And what about toxic baby food?
Joe Fantini (05:35):
Toxic baby food? So this is another one everybody’s buzzing about. We had a trial date in California state court. That one just got pushed back to June. So what we’re gonna have is the motions to dismiss in the MDL where there’s about 80 cases pending that will get worked up. We’ll have an argument towards the end of the first quarter and then we’ll see is the MDL a viable option, are those cases gonna get kicked out? So that’s another one that we have a lot of buzz about. And with the FDA and the government getting involved, California requiring label updates about the baby foods and the chemicals they have in ’em, that’s definitely another one to watch that. Thanks for bringing that up.
Susan Barfield (06:13):
Yep. Well, Joe, as always, so grateful. It’s great to see you, and I really appreciate you taking time to connect. Provide us with the deadlines that are come, you know, quickly approaching in January and the litigations and that we need to be watching in 2025. So thanks so much and we’ll see you next week.
Joe Fantini (06:31):
Thanks for having me, Susan.
Susan Barfield (06:33):
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