Oakland, California, June 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The California State Court Judge overseeing the Ranitidine Products Cases JCCP NO. 5150 issued a pretrial order this week establishing a trial schedule for the Zantac litigation in California. In his order, the Honorable Judge Evelio M. Grillo for the California Superior Court of Alameda County confirmed the first four Zantac (ranitidine) bellwether trials in the California Zantac JCCP (Judicial Council Coordination Proceedings), with the first taking place on February 13, 2023 in Oakland.
This is welcome news for the thousands of claimants throughout California alleging that drug makers Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) failed to warn about the link between Zantac (generic: ranitidine) and cancer.
Pretrial Order No. 4 laid out some important dates in the California Zantac litigation:
January 25, 2023 – Court hearing on Sargon. A Sargon hearing allows the legal teams for both sides of a legal dispute to present their expert witnesses and educate the court on the science that underpins their arguments. After carefully considering the expert opinions, Judge Grillo will decide whether the experts on both sides used sound logic and valid methodologies to arrive at their scientific opinions. If Judge Grillo determines that the experts used valid methodologies, then Zantac cases in the JCCP can proceed to trial and the experts will be allowed to provide evidence and testimony on whether Zantac causes cancer, and whether that propensity for inducing cancer caused a particular Zantac user to develop cancer.
February 13, 2023 – First Zantac trial in the California JCCP. If plaintiffs’ experts pass muster in Sargon, the first bellwether trial will begin. A bellwether trial is essentially a test case in a mass tort litigation that sets a precedent for the hundreds or thousands of cases making the same or similar allegations. The first bellwether trial will be a good indicator for out-of-court settlement resolutions. If the plaintiffs win a jury verdict, it generally increases the likelihood that cases will end in settlement agreements.
May 1, 2023 – Second Zantac bellwether trial in the California JCCP. Bellwether trials will continue unless a global settlement is reached, or the court appoints a mediator to negotiate resolutions.
August 7, 2023 – Third Zantac bellwether trial in the California JCCP.
October 23, 2023 – Fourth Zantac bellwether trial in the California JCCP.
What is the Zantac JCCP?
Complex cases filed in multiple California counties that stem from a common issue of fact or law may be transferred and consolidated into a single court under specific procedures and with the agreement of all of the parties. The consolidated cases form a JCCP, which stands for Judicial Council Coordination Proceedings. A JCCP provides unified management for the pretrial and trial phases of consolidated cases that make the same or similar allegations against a common defendant (or common defendants). Cases consolidated in a JCCP allow for pre-trial discovery, motions, and the first bellwether trials to happen in front of one presiding judge.
Baum Hedlund Zantac Lawyer R. Brent Wisner to Serve as Co-Lead Counsel in Zantac Trial
Zantac lawyers R. Brent Wisner of Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman and Jennifer Moore of the Moore Law Group will serve as lead trial attorneys in the first Zantac trial in the California JCCP. Attorneys Wisner and Moore currently serve on the Zantac JCCP leadership as Plaintiffs’ Liaisons. Both Wisner and Moore worked together on the Monsanto Roundup cancer litigation and obtained successful verdicts totaling more than $2.4 billion.
“Thousands of people suffering from cancer after taking Zantac have been waiting and waiting to have their day in court,” says attorney R. Brent Wisner. “It is nice to be able to tell our clients that the litigation is picking up some steam, and that we will soon be able to show a jury that the makers of Zantac knew as far back as the early 1980s that the drug can cause cancer. They need to be held accountable for putting profit over people.”
How to Qualify for Zantac Lawsuit
Zantac cancer lawsuits are being filed in the California JCCP on behalf of people who took ranitidine for at least one year and later developed the following cancers:
- Bladder Cancer
- Gastric/Stomach Cancer
- Liver Cancer
- Esophageal Cancer
- Pancreatic Cancer
- Breast Cancer
- Prostate Cancer
- Colon Cancer
- Lung Cancer
Anyone diagnosed with the above cancers and meets certain requirements must timely submit a claim within a time limit called the statute of limitations. Anyone with a potential claim should consider speaking with an attorney as soon as possible to ensure that they file within the allowable time frame. Please keep in mind that Zantac cancer lawsuit eligibility may change at any time in accordance with court orders.
Baum Hedlund Zantac Lawyers
The trial attorneys at Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman are preparing for trial to hold the makers of Zantac (ranitidine) accountable for allegedly concealing the increased risk of cancer associated with the antacid medication.
Baum Hedlund has obtained some of the largest personally injury and verdicts and settlements in recent history. Across all areas of practice, the firm has won more than $4 billion in verdicts and settlements.*
The firm has also earned stellar awards, including Law360’s California Powerhouse award and Product Liability Practice Group of the Year. The National Law Journal and The Trial Lawyer Magazine honored Baum Hedlund trial attorneys as 2020 Elite Trial Lawyers Mass Tort Law Firm of the Year finalists and 2019 Elite Trial Lawyers Mass Tort Trial Team of the Year winner for their work in the Monsanto Roundup litigation. The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 awarded the firm’s trial lawyers with the Trial Team of the Year 2019, and R. Brent Wisner was named the 2019 Civil Plaintiff Trial Lawyer of the Year. All of the firm’s award-winning attorneys who worked on the Monsanto Roundup litigation are now working on the Zantac cancer litigation.
Thousands of people throughout U.S. have retained Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman to mount Zantac legal claims on their behalf. The firm currently has cases pending in both the California Zantac JCCP and the federal Zantac MDL in Florida.
*Lawyer advertisement: Our past performance, verdicts, settlements, testimonials or endorsements do not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or prediction regarding the outcome of future cases.
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