Your lawyer needs to hear from you, in order to comply with some conditional USDC orders issued in Manhattan. The lawyers need to know if you want to take the MDL settlement. . . or not. Here's a bit from last Friday's Memo of Law (PDF), in support of a conditional Lone Pine order, from Judge Keenan -- and he has granted that conditional order:
. . . .On information and belief and based on Merck’s attorneys conversations with the PSC and various Plaintiffs’ counsel, the majority of the roughly 5% of domestic cases where there has been no expressed desire to participate in the settlement involve situations where Plaintiffs have also not affirmatively indicated that they wish to pursue their cases. . . .
Merck has been informed that there are apparently a substantial number of cases where there has been non-existent or limited recent contact between Plaintiffs and their attorneys, or the attorneys designated to dismiss the cases. Consistent with that information, Merck has been informed of less than ten claimants who indicated affirmatively that they wish to turn down the settlement and pursue their cases.
Under these circumstances, a Lone Pine Order will at a minimum allow the parties to determine “what is what” with these remaining cases, will “ensure that the home districts receive only viable cases” . . .if some do need to be remanded, and will provide courts on remand with some basic information about these cases, too. . . .
So -- one way or another -- call your lawyer, if you are an ONJ claimant.
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