William Frank Jr., a New York resident who filed a Levaquin lawsuit on January 24, 2012, is only one plaintiff among a host of others with lawsuits moving in the U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota. This MDL is being presided over by Judge John R. Tunheim and it seems that this MDL will continue to grow as more and more plaintiffs are joining it.
Frank’s lawsuit was filed against Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharma, the makers of Levaquin, amid claims that they “actively concealed test results (and) studies and clinical trials showing a statistically high risk of tendon injuries associated with Levaquin.” According to Frank’s claim, he started taking the antibiotic around March 7, 2010, and by April 14, 2010, he had developed a left supraspinatus tendon rupture (rotator cuff tear) in his left shoulder, which is one of the adverse side effects linked to Levaquin.
Cases like Frank’s are growing every day despite the fact that the FDA issued a black box warning against Levaquin back in 2008 — a full two years before Frank started taking the drug. Most of the patients are claiming that the manufacturing companies purposely hid the dangerous side effects like tendon ruptures from the public and healthcare professionals. Warnings against the drug also state that the risks of suffering from Levaquin side effects increases in patients who are older than 65 and those who take corticosteroids. Despite these dangers, Levaquin is still among the most popular antibiotic medications on the American market.
However, the drug’s popularity doesn’t protect the drug companies from the numerous lawsuits that have been filed against the manufacturers of Levaquin. At least one of those cases resulted in a $1.8 million award for the plaintiff John Schedin — an award that was upheld on appeal. Lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson will likely continue until the company is fully held liable for the injuries to the patients that take this drug.
