A growing number of meningitis-related lawsuits, filed in the Roanoke Valley and beyond, may wind up being handled by a single federal judge.
Lawyers for New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts, which is being blamed for producing steroid injections linked to a meningitis outbreak, are seeking to have a lawsuit filed last month in Roanoke Circuit Court moved to federal court.
The lawsuit, in which Basil Proffitt claimed she was sickened by tainted medication, was the first of at least 10 filed against New England Compounding in the region’s state courts.
Because Proffitt, of Salem, and the company she is suing are from different states, the matter should be litigated in federal court, attorneys for New England Compounding maintain. Federal courts routinely hear cases involving interstate matters.
In a motion filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, attorneys for New England Compounding cited a second reason for transferring the case: the possibility that all meningitis-related lawsuits in Virginia and other states could be consolidated and heard by a single federal judge.
Such a process, called multidistrict litigation, is sometimes used when a large number of similar lawsuits are filed in different states against the same defendant.
A federal panel is already considering an application "to centralize and transfer all matters arising from these matters to a single District Court," Rebecca Herbig, a Richmond attorney who represents New England Compounding, wrote in court papers.
A decision on the request, made in connection with a meningitis-related lawsuit filed in Florida, is expected within the next two to four months.
Neither Herbig nor Willard Moody Jr., a Portsmouth attorney who filed Proffitt’s lawsuit, could be immediately reached today.
At least two people in Virginia have died from the fungal meningitis outbreak that is tied to dirty steroid injections given to hundreds of patients for back pain.
The motion filed by New England Compounding states that lawsuits similar to Proffitt’s have been filed in other state and federal courts. It did not state how many.
Lawyers for New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts, which is being blamed for producing steroid injections linked to a meningitis outbreak, are seeking to have a lawsuit filed last month in Roanoke Circuit Court moved to federal court.
The lawsuit, in which Basil Proffitt claimed she was sickened by tainted medication, was the first of at least 10 filed against New England Compounding in the region’s state courts.
Because Proffitt, of Salem, and the company she is suing are from different states, the matter should be litigated in federal court, attorneys for New England Compounding maintain. Federal courts routinely hear cases involving interstate matters.
In a motion filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, attorneys for New England Compounding cited a second reason for transferring the case: the possibility that all meningitis-related lawsuits in Virginia and other states could be consolidated and heard by a single federal judge.
Such a process, called multidistrict litigation, is sometimes used when a large number of similar lawsuits are filed in different states against the same defendant.
A federal panel is already considering an application "to centralize and transfer all matters arising from these matters to a single District Court," Rebecca Herbig, a Richmond attorney who represents New England Compounding, wrote in court papers.
A decision on the request, made in connection with a meningitis-related lawsuit filed in Florida, is expected within the next two to four months.
Neither Herbig nor Willard Moody Jr., a Portsmouth attorney who filed Proffitt’s lawsuit, could be immediately reached today.
At least two people in Virginia have died from the fungal meningitis outbreak that is tied to dirty steroid injections given to hundreds of patients for back pain.
The motion filed by New England Compounding states that lawsuits similar to Proffitt’s have been filed in other state and federal courts. It did not state how many.
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