According to court documents and review of the inventory of filed lawsuits against the manufacturer of Xarelto, litigation proceedings against the pharmaceutical company appear to be ratcheting up in scope and depth. In December, 2014, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) granted consolidation of pretrial proceedings for all federal Xarelto cases filed against Bayer and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen subsidiary over the new generation blood thinner.

Currently, the Xarelto personal injury and product liability claims are centralized before U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon in the Eastern District of Louisiana. Bayer and Johnson & Johnson are now exposed to more than 220 cases alleging excessive bleeding in the federal multi-district litigation (MDL) with more cases being filed around the country.

Complaints Allege Lack of Warnings

The plaintiffs in the lawsuits consolidated in the MDL have alleged, among other causes of action, Bayer and Johnson & Johnson failed to properly warn about the risks associated with new-generation anticoagulant and the lack of an effective antidote for Xarelto, in the event of uncontrollable bleeding.

Xarelto is a new-generation anticoagulant approved by the FDA in 2011 as a replacement for Coumadin, an anticoagulant used to treat blood clots and strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation, a common heart condition. While Xarelto has been touted as a safer alternative to Coumadin since it does not require regular blood tests to measure the drug’s effectiveness, several recent studies have found that Xarelto does not have a reversal agent that doctors can use to stop unwanted hemorrhaging. In contrast, Coumadin’s blood thinning effects can be quickly reversed in an emergency.

Xarelto Federal MDL Lawsuits

The MDL before Judge Fallon has an important role in streamlining the litigation, as all plaintiffs and defendants are under the control of one judge to allow for the coordination of discovery and the cases chosen as “bellwether trials” to determine the strength of the people’s claims for personal injury and/or wrongful death.

As part of the coordinated pre-trial proceedings, it is common in complex pharmaceutical and mass tort cases for a small group of cases will be selected as “bellwether” cases. I am personally involved in a bellwether case on behalf of my client in the Granuflo MDL located in Boston, MA, which I intend to blog about in the near future. Bellwether cases will be prepared for trial to help the parties determine how juries will consider certain evidence and testimony that is likely to be repeated in every individual case.

If the parties fail to find a mass settlement, Judge Fallon will remand the cases back to their home jurisdiction for trial.

If you or a family member has been injured and experienced excessive bleeding while taking Xarelto, please contact our office at (866) 212-7533 or email at us corban@corbangunn.com.

If you have been injured in a collision with a tractor-trailer or other commercial vehicle, you may be able to recover compensation from the negligent trucker or trucking company responsible for causing the accident. To be successful in your personal injury case, it may be necessary to prove that the truck driver or trucking company was somehow negligent, and that this negligence is responsible for causing the accident.

One way to show negligence is to demonstrate that the driver or trucking company was not in compliance with safety rules and regulations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). The FMCSA is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation charged with the task of preventing commercial motor vehicle-related injuries and fatalities. To this end, the FMCSA implements and enforces safety regulations covering many aspects of the trucking industry. These areas include:

• Hours of Service of Drivers – The regs govern the maximum length of a work day and work week, including how long a trucker may be behind the wheel in a given day. These rules are frequently violated by truckers under pressure to reach their destination as quickly as possible.

• Inspection, Repair and Maintenance – These rules require frequent driver inspections and periodic inspections by the trucking companies. Inspectors and brake inspectors must be qualified. Unsafe operations which are likely to cause an accident or vehicle breakdown are forbidden by this rule.

• Parts and Accessories Necessary for Safe Operation – These rules include a long list of minimum requirements for safe operation, including headlamps and reflective devices; hazard lights and fog lamps; brake systems and components, including parking brakes, brakes on all wheels, automatic brake adjusters, and breakaway and emergency braking; window construction; fuel tanks; tires and more.

After an accident, it is important to inspect trucker and trucking company logbooks and records to determine if they were out of compliance with FMCSA safety regulations at the time of the crash. It should be noted that falsified logbooks are a frequent occurrence, and it may be necessary to conduct a thorough investigation and forensic analysis to determine if false logbook entries were made to make the trucking company appear to be in compliance when it actually was not.

Biloxi accident attorney Corban Gunn is familiar with FMCSA trucking regulations and the ways in which false entries may be made in logbooks. He conducts a thorough investigation of the accident to build a strong case for the trucking company’s liability to help ensure you receive the maximum compensation for your injuries. If you have been injured in a trucking accident or other motor vehicle accident in Biloxi or along the Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, contact Corban Gunn for a free consultation.

Around 2:30 in the morning on Sunday, February 1^st, a tractor-trailer hauling lettuce and heading eastbound on the I-10 flipped just past the Woolmarket exit in Biloxi. Crews spent almost ten hours unloading lettuce from the trailer and moving the semi off the highway, keeping lanes on the interstate closed until past noon. No details on what caused the big rig to flip have been released.

What causes a semi-trailer to flip?

While the cause of this particular truck accident is not known, there are many reasons which may cause a tractor-trailer to flip, jackknife or turn over. A tractor-trailer or semi-truck is composed of two components – the tractor or cab which pulls the trailer and the trailer itself, which is technically known as a semi-trailer, because it lacks front wheels and cannot move by itself; it must be attached to the tractor to complete the vehicle. Jackknifing occurs when the tractor goes into a skid, and the semi-trailer spins around independent of the tractor, winding up alongside the cab in the opposite direction, with the entire vehicle folded in on itself like a partially-opened pocket knife.

So what cause the tractor to skid in the first place? Truck driver error is a frequent cause, although equipment failure can play a role as well. Improper braking or brake failure are the most frequent causes of a jackknife, particularly on icy or wet and dangerous road conditions.

A commercial truck may flip due to a blowout or brake failure, or because the trucker was either braking too fast or turning too fast. Oversteering and understeering can both cause a tractor-trailer to flip over. An unbalanced or shifting load can also cause the semi to flip. It is important that a commercial vehicle be initially loaded with care and not negligently. The cargo should also be inspected frequently to check to see if it has undergone shifting and become unbalanced. Sometimes it is necessary to unload and reload the trailer to maintain a safely balanced load. This of course takes up valuable time for the trucker and trucking company, but failing to take this important step may be the cause of a serious truck accident which results in catastrophic personal injury or wrongful death, for which the driver or trucking company may be liable.

Attorney Corban Gunn helps victims of truck accidents in Biloxi, Gulfport and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast recover compensation for their injuries from negligent truckers and trucking companies. If you have been injured in a Biloxi truck accident, call our office at 228.284.6805 or contact us for a free consultation.