The selection of the bellwether trials in the Xarelto multidistrict litigation (MDL) are currently underway.

A case management order from U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon dated Nov. 20, 2015 outlined the criteria for selecting these trials.

Several Xarelto lawsuits will now be chosen for inclusion in a bellwether discovery pool. These cases are generally chosen based on which appear to be most ready for trial.

Initially, the judge asked that both plaintiffs and defendants work together to determine the cases selected for the bellwether pool, however, when they were unable to agree on criteria for their selections, the Judge stepped forward to complete the task.

As requested, a total of 40 Xarelto cases will be chosen to include in the bellwether pool. At this time, plaintiffs and defendants will each select 10 cases, and the remaining cases will be randomly selected.

It has been announced by the judge as well that half of the selected cases will be from the Eastern District of Louisiana, while 7 will be from states selected by the defendants and 7 will be from states selected by the plaintiffs.

Additionally, 2 cases in the pool will be from Texas federal court and 4 will be from Mississippi federal court. These states chosen must have had at least 20 eligible cases filed concerning the pending litigation.

The quickly approaching status conference for the Xarelto MDL is set for December 21st, 2015. Judge Fallon has asked that parties involved get together between now and then in order to set the eligibility criteria for case selection and to plan case categories.

Additionally, they have been asked to plan selection for the initial 4 cases to go to trial. It is expected that the first trial dates for these cases may be between February and May of 2017.

At this time, the MDL includes over 2,800 Xarelto lawsuits alleging that defendants Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a subdivision of Johnson & Johnson) and Bayer AG neglected to provide an antidote for their anticoagulant drug and neglected to properly warn consumers of the significant dangers associated with Xarelto use.

Xarelto Lawsuit Allegations

The Xarelto lawsuits consolidated in the MDL all similarly allege that the new generation blood thinning drug can cause episodes of dangerous and sometimes fatal uncontrollable bleeding. Xarelto has become widely considered the most dangerous blood thinner on the market due to the fact that it has no corresponding antidote.

For someone taking a traditional blood thinner such as warfarin, however, there is an antidote available through vitamin K. If an individual taking a traditional blood thinner is injured and bleeding, doctors can treat them with vitamin K, reversing the medicine’s effects and successfully clotting their blood.

This is not the case with Xarelto.  This means that if a patient using Xarelto is injured and bleeds, physicians will be unable to get that patient’s blood to clot. In these instances, doctors have to resort to extreme life-saving measures such as blood transfusions.

If you or a loved one have suffered injuries including uncontrollable gastrointestinal bleeding from taking Xarelto you may be entitled to compensation.

The Xarelto Bleeding MDL is In re: Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2592, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.