Susan Barfield (00:06):
Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of Tort Talk Thursday here with Joe Fantini from Rosen Injury Lawyers. Joe, as always, thank you so much for taking a little bit of time to talk with me in the industry about the world of mass torts.
Joe Fantini (00:18):
Thanks for having me, Susan. Always love getting together with you every week talking about the latest developments in the world of mass torts.
Susan Barfield (00:24):
Well, speaking of latest developments, will you share what is going on on the Roundup litigation?
Joe Fantini (00:30):
Yeah. In Roundup, we just had our first trial in Chicago State Court. It was going on for about four weeks. Our good friends over at Arnold & Itkin and Kline & Specter were trying the case. It was coming to the end and then out of nowhere a mistrial was declared. What happened was defense counsel continued to question experts of in a certain manner that brought up prior DUI arrest of the plaintiff. Totally unrelated. It was forbidden. They were warned time and time again and they kept doing it. This resulted in the judge declaring a mistrial. So all of that work that month long trial out the window, they’re gonna retry the case, but it seems like the defendants were just trying to avoid a big verdict. No worry here for the plaintiffs. We have a ton of pressure in 2024, more than 12 Roundup trial scheduled, so we’ll get ’em on the next one. Everybody’s super excited about this litigation.
Susan Barfield (01:22):
Yeah, that is exciting. Speaking of a tort, I mean, we haven’t talked about Suboxone in a while, so I’m interested to hear what’s the latest there.
Joe Fantini (01:29):
Yeah, Suboxone’s a mass tort that’s been flying under the radar a little bit, like you talked about after this was formed, we had a lot of flurry of activity this summer when the two year statute of limitation potentially was coming up. There was a tolling agreement. We only have about 700 cases filed in the MDL right now, but a year into the litigation, here we are. We’re at a crucial juncture and we’re gonna hear oral arguments with the court on December 16th on defendant’s motion to dismiss. Basically, they’re making the same arguments. We always see time and time again preemption. These claims should be kicked out. We expect the plaintiff verdict, uh, plaintiff ruling in our favor, a lot of momentum then beginning 2025 in Suboxone. A lot of people are really excited about how this one’s gonna end up.
Susan Barfield (02:13):
Well. Great. Well keep us updated on that. I guess that’s happening next week.
Joe Fantini (02:16):
I sure will.
Susan Barfield (02:17):
And as far as Depo Provera, I know there’s a lot of folks that are excited about this. Um, litigation. What is the news there?
Joe Fantini (02:25):
Depo Provera, this is gonna be the main tort of 2025. We talked about some of the really mature torts before AFFF, hair relaxer, Roundup. Of course, this is the new kid on the block. Everybody’s really excited. We already have almost 30 cases filed across the country, various jurisdictions. We filed for the JPML consolidation at the first hearing in 2025. That will be before the court. We’re trying to go into the Northern District of California, one of our favorite venues, the home of Roundup, other really good mass tort with really experienced judges, and we’re looking forward to having that. So everybody really focus in on the signature injury. We’re going for those brain tumor cancers, other injuries, there’s not as much support right now, so we’ll hear a lot about this one next year. But keep getting those cases, work together to file ’em in the correct district before we have the MDL.
Susan Barfield (03:15):
Awesome. Well, Joe, as always, thanks so much for taking the time, um, to provide these insights on these litigations.
Joe Fantini (03:22):
Thanks for having me, Susan.
Susan Barfield (03:23):
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