By Buck Daniel
April 30, 2014 – Since our last update, there has been a great deal of activity in the Actos litigation. As of the end of March 2014, there were over 5,000 Actos cases filed in the MDL and Illinois State Court and another 1,000 still expected in the months ahead. That aside, I am happy to report that on April 7, 2014, a jury in Louisiana returned a big Plaintiff’s verdict against the named defendants to punish their wrongful conduct and actions. Although the Court will lower the punitive damage award to a much smaller number and the defendants will appeal the case, this is a terrific result and outcome. Hopefully, it will put the defendants on notice of what Actos has done to thousands of families like yours and steer them in the direction of accepting responsibility for the actions.
More on the trial: Following 34 days of trial, a Louisiana jury ordered Japanese drug maker Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and drug maker Eli Lilly & Co. to pay compensatory and punitive damages after finding the companies’ diabetes drug Actos caused Terrance Allen to develop bladder cancer. Mr. Allen used Actos for over 5 years prior to his development of bladder cancer and was a non-smoker his entire life. The punitive damage award likely stems from evidence that Takeda lost or destroyed critical documents from as many as 46 employees and sales representatives. The missing files belonged to high-ranking Takeda employees who were heavily involved in the development, sales, marketing, and promotion of Actos. Other missing files belonged to rank-and-file sales representatives whose day-to-day work involved marketing and distributing Actos.
There is another Actos trial going on right now in Nevada involving two women, Ms. Bertha Triana, 80, and Ms. Delores Cipriano, 81, who claim Actos caused them to develop bladder cancer as well. Additionally, other Actos trials are being scheduled through the remainder of 2014 and 2015. As these trials unfold, we will keep you posted on the results.
