GranuFlo Lawsuits Move Forward, as Federal Court Convenes May Status Conference, Bernstein Liebhard LLP Reports
New York, NY (PRWEB) May 12, 2014 -- A Status Conference was convened on May 9, 2014, in the federal multidistrict litigation established for GranuFlo lawsuits (http://www.thegranuflolawsuit.com/) in the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, Bernstein Liebhard LLP reports. According to a Joint Status Report filed with the Court, matters discussed during the conference included a discovery schedule and possible dates for the proceeding’s bellwether trials. Those trials could begin by mid-2015, or in early 2016. (In re Fresenius GranuFlo/Naturalyte Dialysate Litigation, MDL No. 2428)
“Our Firm is already representing a number of clients in this litigation who were allegedly harmed by products included in the 2012 GranuFlo and NaturaLyte recall. We are pleased to see the proceeding is moving forward, and look forward to the start of its first trials,” says Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationwide law firm representing victims of defective drugs and medical devices. The Firm is now offering free legal reviews to dialysis patients who were allegedly harmed by GranuFlo or NaturaLyte.
GranuFlo Recall
GranuFlo and NaturaLyte are dialysis concentrates that were recalled by Fresenius Medical Care in 2012, after the products were tied to serious and life-threatening heart events in hundreds of dialysis patients. According to a New York Times report from June 2012, many doctors were not aware that GranuFlo and NaturaLyte were formulated differently than rival dialysis drugs. If dosage was not adjusted to account for this difference, a dialysis patient could experience a dangerous elevation of bicarbonate in their blood known as metabolic alkalosis, as well as heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular events.*
Fresenius first notified dialysis clinics nationwide about the problems associated with GranuFlo and NaturaLyte via an Urgent Product Notification in March 2012. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) later granted the notification Class I status, its most serious category of recall. According to The New York Times, the agency also launched an investigation of Fresenius Medical Care, after learning that the company had circulated an internal memo to its in-network dialysis clinics in November 2011 that detailed these issues. The FDA is trying to determine if Fresenius violated any federal regulations by not issuing any type of notification to dialysis clinics outside of its networks at that time.
Court records indicate that at least 1,570 GranuFlo lawsuits are now pending in federal litigation underway in Massachusetts. Among other things, plaintiffs allege that Fresenius failed to provide adequate warnings regarding the risks associated with GranuFlo and NaturaLyte, and that the company continued to aggressively market the products even once it became aware of those risks.
Individuals who allegedly experienced heart attacks, strokes, and other catastrophic cardiovascular events within 72 hours of a dialysis treatment where GranuFlo or NaturaLyte were used may be entitled to compensation. Learn more about GranuFlo lawsuits at Bernstein Liebhard LLP’s website, or the Firm’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/granuflolawsuit. For additional information, and to arrange for a free case review, please call 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.
Bernstein Liebhard LLP represents the victims of defective drugs and medical devices on a contingency-fee basis, and our clients are never expected to pay attorneys fees unless their case results in a successful recovery on their behalf. New York State’s contingency fee cap rules generally limit those fees to 33 1/3% of the total recovery. As a result, the Firm’s fees can be significantly lower than those assessed by attorneys in other states, which depending on the law may amount to as much as 40% or more of a plaintiff’s recovery.
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ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. © 2014 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, 800-511-5092. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.
Contact Information:
Felecia L. Stern, Esq.
Bernstein Liebhard LLP
info(at)consumerinjurylawyers(dot)com
http://www.thegranuflolawsuit.com/
https://plus.google.com/115936073311125306742?rel=author
Felecia L. Stern, GranuFlo and NaturaLyte Dialysis Lawsuit Center, http://www.thegranuflolawsuit.com/, +1 800-511-5092, [email protected]
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