Amanda Antell  |  April 15, 2014

Category: Legal News

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Pradaxa lawsuitsGerman pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim, the maker of the blood thinning medication Pradaxa, is being forced by a federal judge to pay some of the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees, including for office space in Amsterdam being used during the litigation process of thousands of Pradaxa lawsuits. Boehringer is being forced to pay this fee after it was found that the drug maker had acted in bad faith during the discovery phase of the Pradaxa lawsuits, and withheld or destroyed important evidence.

As of now, more than 2,000 product liability lawsuits have been filed against Boehringer Ingelheim in U.S. federal courts. Each of these Pradaxa lawsuits have been filed by plaintiffs who were allegedly injured by the company’s blood thinning drug Pradaxa, and allege that the company failed to warn them of the possibility of life-threatening injuries.

All federal complaints have been centralized under U.S. District Judge David R. Herndon in the Southern District of Illinois in a multidistrict litigation (MDL). On March 13, after concluding the defendant had acted in bad faith in concealing or destroying evidence that would have helped the plaintiffs’ cases, the judge ordered Boehringer to pay for the office.

The original penalty came in December 2013, when Herndon fined Boehringer nearly $1 million for acting in the bad faith, and ordered the company to send a number of its employees to the United States for deposition as part of the discovery process.  However, this order was dismissed by the Seventh Court of Appeals, which found that Herndon had overstepped his bounds by forcing that international order. However, the financial sanctions were upheld.

Because the attorneys representing the plaintiffs will now have to travel to Europe to conduct the depositions, Herndon had ordered Boehringer to pay for the space in Amsterdam. The court also ordered the company to reimburse the costs of court reporters, videographers and interpreters that the plaintiffs’ attorneys will need until at least August 2014.

The parties estimate that about 50 Boehringer Ingelheim employees will be deposed during the Pradaxa litigation process. Herndon rejected the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ attempts to raise the fines to $20 million, but noted that Boehringer Ingelheim may face more sanctions later in the litigation. He also did not order the company to pay for the plaintiffs’ attorneys travel expenses.

Overview of Pradaxa Complications and Litigation

Pradaxa (dabigatran) is a powerful anticoagulant that was approved by the FDA in October 2010. It was the second drug in U.S. history to be approved for this purpose, following Warfarin. Pradaxa is often prescribed to prevent stroke in high-risk patients. It was marketed as easier to use and more efficient than Warfarin, but it was soon discovered that there was a major defect in the drug’s design. Unlike Warfarin, there is no reversal agent to stop the side effect of internal bleeding, should that happen. Ever since its release, there have been thousands of injury and death reports associated with the internal bleeding complications from using Pradaxa.

Pradaxa lawsuits allege similar injury complaints — that Boehringer failed to warn them of the potential bleeding side effects of the drug. The plaintiffs also allege that the company failed to notify them that there was no reversal agent to stop or prevent in the internal bleeding. Many of the charges include: negligence, false advertising concealing information, and misrepresenting a product.

File a Pradaxa Class Action Lawsuit Claim

If you believe that you or a loved one have been the victim of a Pradaxa internal bleeding injury, you have legal options. Submit your information now for a free and confidential case evaluation by a Pradaxa lawyer to see if you qualify for compensation:

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