U.S. District Judge Middlebrooks Includes Babbitt Johnson on Trasylol Steering Committee

View and read 60 Minutes special report on Trasylol WEST PALM BEACH, Fl. - U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks has appointed a Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC) in Trasylol Multidistrict Litigation. The litigation consolidates 18 federal cases filed in 14 courts around the country in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, Fl The 13 lawyers on the steering committee represent 12 law firms from around the country.   Co-lead counsels in the case are James Ronca of Anapol, Schwartz, P.C., in Philadelphia and Scott Love of Fleming & Associates, L.L.C. in Houston.   Theodore Babbitt of Babbitt, Johnson, Osborne & Le Clainche. P.A., of West Palm Beach, Fl., is liaison counsel to the court. Ronca, Love and Babbitt will comprise the PSC’s executive committee, which will coordinate the PSC’s work. The PSC, in turn, will call meetings of counsel, examine witnesses and introduce evidence on plaintiffs’ behalf, and act as spokesperson for all plaintiffs in pretrial proceedings and in response to inquiries.   Babbitt Johnson partner Joseph A. Osborne will also serve on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee.  Babbitt Johnson is the only South or Central Florida firm on the PSC.   The PSC will be responsible for the administration and logistics of the case as it winds through court. The first federal case could go to trial as early as September 2009.   The litigation is receiving international attention, as the drug, used to reduce bleeding during heart surgery, has been linked to as many as 20,000 deaths and far more catastrophic injuries. Bayer stopped selling Trasylol in November 2007 and withdrew it from the U.S. market this month after the New England Journal of Medicine published a new Canadian study confirming that people given Trasylol face a 53 percent increased risk of death. Lawsuits against Trasylol are expected to number into the thousands. There are already several million documents produced, in support of the various litigation efforts. Plaintiffs allege that Bayer marketed and distributed Trasylol without warning doctors and patients of the increased risk of death associated with the drug. View and read 60 Minutes special report on Trasylol