Darvocet Multidistrict Litigation Could Be Approved

Darvocet and other propoxyphene painkillers were recalled last November due to the high rate of fatalities associated with the medication, especially those that involved cardiac problems. Now a multidistrict litigation case is being considered for the lawsuits involved. There are hundreds of lawsuits against the makers of Darvocet, Darvon, and generic propoxyphene products, and combining them in multidistrict litigation could make the legal process move more quickly.
Multidistrict litigation is similar to class action in that it combines the pretrial proceedings of similar cases that have been filed across the country into one court. One judge presides over these cases. Unlike class action, however, once the pretrial process is complete, the cases are sent back to the courts in which they were filed, and the rest of the legal process will play out there. This simplifies the legal process in many ways and allows for a faster result.
Witness testimony and evidence discovery take place in multidistrict pretrial proceedings, and will be relevant to the entire class of Darvocet litigation. The lawsuit could contain thousands of plaintiffs before trials begin.
Before any verdict is reached there is no way of telling what kind of settlement patients can expect to receive, but legal experts believe it could be substantial – with some estimating that each plaintiff stands to receive millions of dollars in compensation.
The company responsible for the manufacture and marketing of brand-name propoxyphene painkillers Darvon and Darvocet are opposed to the consolidation because they believe that victims of heart arrhythmia, one of the drugs’ known side effects, do not share enough in common to constitute a class. However, similar cases such as ongoing Chantix lawsuits have been consolidated in such a way, and plaintiffs may still file suit after multidistrict litigation is approved. Darvocet is more life-threatening than Chantix, and it seems likely that multidistrict litigation will be approved.
Darvocet side effects include heart abnormalities such as heart arrhythmia, heart attack, accidental death, overdose, and suicide.