At the last JPML hearing held on Thursday, December 4th, the panel heard from counsel for Johnson & Johnson and lawyers for plaintiffs. Both sides presented arguments for creating an MDL for all Elmiron cases in New Jersey federal court. Those proposing NJ as the appropriate venue, stated that U.S. District Judge Brian Martinotti in New Jersey has already been handling Elmiron cases and has implemented processes to handle the suits that are commonly accepted in mass tort litigation. Additionally, defendant and J&J’s subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., who has allegedly failed to warn consumers of the serious eye damage that Elmiron could cause, is located in NJ along with most of the witnesses and documentation.
On the other side of this argument, some plaintiff lawyers are requesting the litigation to be consolidated in Pennsylvania claiming that the cases in that jurisdiction are further along in the legal process, which NJ proponents argued is not an accurate assessment of the relative status of the litigation in each venue.
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