July 2021 — The second trial for Group B is scheduled to begin around July 2021.
May 2021 — The first trial in the Group B Bellwether Trial is scheduled to begin around May 2021.
March 2021 — The third trial for Group A is scheduled to begin around March. Additionally, the court is scheduled to select two cases from Group B that will go to trial by March 2021.
November 2020 — The first trial in the Group A Bellwether Trial is scheduled to begin around November 2020. The amount of cases in the Zostavax MDL is now over 1,800.
January 2021 — The second trial for Group A is scheduled to begin around January 2021.
May 29, 2020 — 4 cases were to be selected for the Group B Bellwether Trial by May 29, 2020. The court is scheduled to select two cases that will go to trial by March 2021, and the first trial should begin around May 2021. The second is scheduled to begin around July 2021.
May 15, 2020 — Judge Bartle ordered that the core fact discovery for Group B’s eight selected cases be completed by May 15, 2020.
April 2020 — There are estimated to be around 1300 cases already filed in the Zostavax MDL.
December 2019 — Judge Bartle has ordered that eight cases from Group B should have been selected to undergo core fact discovery by December 2019.
November 29, 2019 — Judge Bartle ordered that after the core fact discovery of the initial sixteen cases from Group A, six will be selected to be a part of Group A’s Bellwether Trial by November 29, 2019.
July 2019 — After Merck & Co. refused to turn over records on all “adverse events reports” which could indicate its guilt, plaintiffs filed a motion to compel. Judge Bartle granted the motion, allowing the plaintiffs their first victory and access to the reports in trial.
May 31, 2019 — Judge Bartle has ordered that sixteen cases from Group A should have been selected to undergo core fact discovery by May 31, 2019.
August 2018 — A Zostavax Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) was created in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and assigned to the U.S. District Judge Harvey. This followed a motion by Merck & Co. to consolidate the Zostavax cases pending in federal courts, which the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation approved.
2016 — The first Zostavax lawsuits began to be filed against Merck & Co., claiming that the vaccination caused unforeseen side effects or effects that Merck & Co. failed to warn about.
Reference:
Miller, Ronald V. “Shingles Lawsuit October 2020 Update: Federal Court Trials on Tap.” Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, 29 Oct. 2020, https://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/zostavax-lawsuit-update.html
