"Accidental Addicts" File 1,000 Lawsuits Against Purdue Pharma

PharmaManufacturing.com
08/26/2005

New York-based Purdue Pharma, Inc., which manufactures the painkiller OxyContin, on August 26 felt the initial impact of a legal battering ram carried by 1,000 individuals. Each one of those 1,000 people — "accidental addicts," as their legal counsel calls them — filed suit separately in the Richmond County Courthouse in Staten Island, N.Y.

"Despite clear evidence that OxyContin is as addictive as any other opiate, the drug has continued to be widely marketed and sold by Purdue Pharma as safer and more effective than alternative pain medications," according to a statement from SimmonsCooper LLC, the law firm which represents the 1,000 accidental addicts. "As a result, thousands of people throughout the United States have become addicted and many have died."

This is not the first time Purdue has faced legal problems concerning OxyContin, according to SimmonsCooper. In June of this year, an appellate court upheld a federal court decision that Purdue had lied to the U.S. Patent Office to secure its patent for OxyContin. It is, however, the first time that Purdue Pharma may have to face legal consequences for the hundreds of pain patients who unwittingly became addicted to OxyContin.

"Past efforts to bring Purdue to justice have failed because the extremely diverse effects of the drug made it legally difficult to obtain class action certification," said Tor Hoerman, a lawyer at SimmonsCooper.

"We took a different route and prevailed," he said. "The court decided that, in lieu of class action, a statewide consolidation of the cases was in order. That means 1,000 separate claims by 1,000 people, and each one tried separately in the same court. For two years Purdue has avoided responsibility for this horrible situation. Now the numbers have finally caught up to them," added Hoerman.

A panel of New York judges made the watershed decision to consolidate the OxyContin cases. The plaintiffs are located throughout the United States and include many victims in the New York area, including 10 in Staten Island.

Along with SimmonsCooper, the 1,000 victims are represented by the Manhattan law firm Hanly Conroy Bierstein & Sheridan LLP and Russo, Scamadella & D'Amato in Staten Island.

The cases were filed in New York because that is where Purdue Pharma is based.

"They can't pretend we've chosen an unfair jurisdiction," said Hoerman. "We've brought this battle to their home turf, and that is where we're going to win it."