Court Overseeing Federal GranuFlo Lawsuits Remands Louisiana Claim Back to State Court, Bernstein Liebhard LLP Reports
New York, New York (PRWEB) January 22, 2015 -- Thousand of GranuFlo lawsuits (http://www.granuflolawsuit2014.com/) filed after Fresenius Medical Care recalled its GranuFlo and NaturaLyte dialysis concentrates continue to move forward in the federal multidistrict litigation underway in U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, Bernstein Liebhard LLP reports. According to an Order dated January 20th, the Court has remanded a case filed by the state of Louisiana back to Louisiana’s 19th Judicial District Court, where it was originally filed last June. In doing so, the Court referred to a decision it issued last week to remand a similar suit filed by the state of Mississippi on the grounds that diversity jurisdiction did not apply to the case, as the state was its only named plaintiff. (In re Fresenius GranuFlo/Naturalyte Dialysate Litigation, MDL No. 2428)
According to court documents, the Louisiana lawsuit accuses Fresenius of violating state law in an effort to defraud dialysis clinics, physicians, the state and its residents. Among other things, Louisiana claims the company was aware by 2004 of dosage issues involving GranuFlo and NaturaLyte that could lead to a dangerous elevation of bicarbonate, as well as an increased risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems.
“Our Firm has filed numerous GranuFlo lawsuits in the federal litigation underway in Massachusetts, all of which put forth similar allegations in regards to Fresenius’ handling of GranuFlo and NaturaLyte. We are monitoring the progress of the proceeding very closely, and are pleased to see these cases moving forward,” says Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationwide law firm representing victims of defective drugs and medical devices. The Firm is currently offering free GranuFlo lawsuit evaluations to dialysis patients who allegedly suffered cardiac arrest, heart attacks, stroke, sudden cardiac death or other serious cardiovascular side effects within 72 hours of a dialysis treatment involving the use of GranuFlo or NaturaLyte dialysis drugs.
GranuFlo Recall Litigation
Court documents indicate that the Louisiana GranuFlo lawsuit is just one of thousands filed against Fresenius Medical Care since a Class I recall was announced for GranuFlo and NaturaLyte in 2012. In addition to more than 2,500 claims pending in the federal litigation underway in the District of Massachusetts, almost 4,000 lawsuits that put forth similar allegations have been consolidated in Massachusetts Middlesex County Superior Court. (In re: Consolidated Fresenius Cases, No. MICV2013-03400-O). All of these complaints accuse Fresenius of failing to provide adequate warnings regarding the serious cardiovascular risks associated with GranuFlo and NaturaLyte, and of aggressively marketing the concentrates even after those dangers became known.
GranuFlo and NaturaLyte are both used during dialysis treatments to remove toxins from the blood of kidney failure patients. In March 2012, Fresenius Medical Care issued an Urgent Product Notification for both concentrates that warned of dosage issues that could put patients at risk for serious and potentially life-threatening heart side effects. The U.S. Food & Administration (FDA) ultimately granted Class I recall status to the Urgent Product Notification, which indicates that a medical product poses a risk of serious injury or death.
According to a New York Times report published in June 2012, the FDA also launched an investigation into Fresenius Medical Care’s timing of the GranuFlo recall. The agency’s interest was peaked by an internal memo the company sent to its own dialysis clinics in November 2011 warning of severe health risks associated with GranuFlo. However, that memo was not shared with thousands of other dialysis clinics that purchased GranuFlo and NaturaLyte from Fresenius. The FDA was trying to determine if Fresenius violated any regulations by failing to provide an earlier warning to those out-of-network facilities.*
Dialysis patients who suffered catastrophic heart side effects, including heart attacks, strokes, or sudden cardiac death, within 72 hours of a dialysis treatment with GranuFlo or NaturaLyte may be entitled to file a GranuFlo lawsuit to obtain compensation for their injuries. Read more about the GranuFlo recall by visiting Bernstein Liebhard LLP’s website, or the Firm’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/granuflolawsuit. For additional information, contact a lawyer at Bernstein Liebhard LLP today by calling 800-511-5092.
*nytimes.com/2012/06/15/health/fda-investigates-fresenius-for-failure-to-warn-of-risk.html; New York Times, June 14, 2012
About Bernstein Liebhard LLP
Bernstein Liebhard LLP is a New York-based law firm exclusively representing injured persons in complex individual and class action lawsuits nationwide since 1993. As a national law firm, Bernstein Liebhard LLP possesses all of the legal and financial resources required to successfully challenge billion dollar pharmaceutical and medical device companies. As a result, our attorneys and legal staff have been able to recover more than $3 billion on behalf of our clients. The Firm has been named by The National Law Journal to the Plaintiffs’ Hot List, recognizing the top plaintiffs firms in the country, for the past 12 consecutive years. Bernstein Liebhard LLP is the only firm in the country to be named to this prestigious list every year since it was first published in 2003.
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Contact Information:
Felecia L. Stern, Esq.
Bernstein Liebhard LLP
info(at)consumerinjurylawyers(dot)com
http://www.granuflolawsuit2014.com/
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Felecia L. Stern, GranuFlo Dialysis Treatment Lawsuit Center, http://www.granuflolawsuit2014.com/, +1 800-511-5092, [email protected]
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