While there will be no verdict in the pending Scheinberg Fosamax® trial for perhaps two weeks yet (additional older background), I've done some more reading (catching up, actually) -- and Judge Keenan has ordered that if any of the 4,000 or so Fosamax cases pending allege an injury other than osteonecrosis of the jaw ("ONJ", or jaw bone death), or osteomyellitis, the claimant will need to provide evidence from a doctor as to (among other things) whether the doctor believes to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that Fosamax caused the alleged injury, and if so, the factual and medical/scientific bases for that opinion.
These sorts of pre-inclusion requirements are called Lone Pine orders -- after a seminal case. The idea is that the MDL is more about ONJ and low energy fractures, and less about outlier claims. So the outlier claims ought to be filtered for some degree of veracity testing, prior to inclusion in the ONJ MDL.
The full text (PDF) of Judge Keenan's Lone Pine order may be found here -- but here's a bit, as to the critical time frames:
. . . .Plaintiffs shall produce the documents and Expert Report required. . . above pursuant to the following schedule:
a. Plaintiffs in cases in which the surname of the first named Plaintiff begins with the letter A through I shall make their productions by February 20, 2013.
b. Plaintiffs in cases in which the surname of the first named Plaintiff begins with the letter J through R shall make their productions by April 22, 2013.
c. Plaintiffs in cases in which the surname of the first named Plaintiff begins with the letter S through Z shall make their productions by June 20, 2013. . . .
The failure to comply with the terms of this Order within the time periods prescribed by this Order may result in the dismissal of the delinquent Plaintiffs’ claim with prejudice. . .
We will, as ever, keep an eye on this for you. Have a great MLK Day weekend (do something for your community!), and then look for us at the Inaugural!
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