In a major victory for a handful of the local victims of a nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak, a federal judge has ruled that, at least for now, their cases will proceed before a circuit court judge in Nashville and could eventually be tried by a local jury.
In a 33-page ruling issued late Friday, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV in Boston ruled that those victims who have sued the health care providers who gave the tainted steroid shots but not the bankrupt compounder who provided the drugs in the first place can remain in courts in Tennessee and at least two other states.
The more than 100 suits that either directly or indirectly assert claims against the New England Compounding Center, which produced the tainted methylprednisolone acetate, will be consolidated in Saylor’s court room.
The cases that can remain in Nashville include the suit brought by Wayne Reed of Nashville, a victim of Lou Gehrig’s disease who lost his wife and primary caregiver in the meningitis outbreak.
Reed’s and three other local suits were filed against Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgical Center, where the four got their injections, but not the drug compounding firm.
Mark Chalos, a Nashville attorney representing some of the victims, said the ruling means that “a narrow subset of cases” will stay in state courts “at least for now.”
“This is an important step on the path to justice for the families who were harmed,” he said.
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