In the United States, the courts have an option called a multidistrict litigation, or MDL, when a significant number of lawsuits are filed making substantially the same claims.

A request was recently made to group  various Benicar lawsuits pending against Benicar’s makers into such an MDL.

In an MDL individual complaints are grouped together because they typically have very similar allegations against the same entity, using similar evidence, testimony, and arguments.

MDLs effectively turn individual cases, like Benicar lawsuits, into a single coordinated legal action. This process is designed to save time and money for all parties involved by cutting down on duplication of efforts and coordinating testimony together.

Benicar lawsuits have been filed over allegations that Benicar may have caused serious Benicar side effects. In July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that Benicar could cause sprue-like enteropathy in some patients.

Sprue-like enteropathy is a medical term for a constellation of symptoms including chronic diarrhea and villous atrophy. This group of symptoms is common to celiac disease.

Most cases of celiac disease respond to a strict exclusion diet. However, a minority do not respond to dietary changes or other treatments.

Benicar lawsuits allege that many patients taking Benicar did not realize that the drug could have been the cause of their symptoms. This allegedly caused many patients to suffer celiac disease symptoms for months, even years. Allegedly, chronic diarrhea caused malnutrition in many patients, leading to radical, unhealthy weight loss.

A motion has been filed with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, the organ of the legal system that oversees MDLs, to create an MDL for Benicar lawsuits. The motion was filed on Dec. 18, and asks to consolidate the various Benicar lawsuits in a federal District Court in Ohio, as the bulk of the Benicar lawsuits have been filed in Ohio. The motion will be discussed at an upcoming hearing before the JPML.

Benicar lawsuits typically seek a number of different kinds of compensation. These lawsuits seek to recoup medical costs, lost wages, and legal fees stemming from the plaintiff’s use of Benicar and alleged Benicar side effects.

Many people do not realize just how debilitating chronic diarrhea can be. When patients have this alleged Benicar side effect for months, the condition can interfere with the body’s ability to absorb food, leaving patients clinically malnourished. This can leave patients too weak to function.