Houston Actos Attorney

Houston Actos Drug Injury Lawyer Michael Grossman Discusses Injuries Related to the Drug Pioglitazone

Generating nearly $5 billion in sales in 2010, Actos is an extremely powerful drug that has been associated with devastating side effects. If you have suffered an Actos injury, you may have the basis of a Houston Actos lawsuit against the company that manufactured the drug. Many people have mistaken assumptions in regard to how a lawsuit works when an Actos drug injury takes place. However, the Houston drug injury attorneys with Grossman Law Offices provide this article in an attempt to correct some of these assumptions. The topics that will be covered in this article include:

• Actos information
• Actos side effects
• How to pursue Actos injury legal action
• How drug injury cases work in general
• The difference between class action suits and mass torts
• The importance of the statute of limitations
• Whether or not you have the basis of a Houston Actos lawsuit

Before proceeding any further, you must know that a Houston Actos lawsuit is a form of mass tort. Due to this fact, it is imperative that you ensure individual attention is given to your litigation. As you will see throughout this article, the only way that you can obtain the compensation to which you are entitled is by having the help of an experienced Houston Actos drug injury attorney. There are several reasons that a great deal of attention has to be paid to your individual case.

Actos Information

“Actos” is the U.S. trade name that Japan-based Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the designer of the drug, gave to the drug pioglitazone. The drug is meant to be taken orally by a patient in an effort to control is or her blood sugar level. Actos is designed to lessen the amount of glucose in the body as well as reduce the liver’s resistance to insulin. There are some instances where Actos can be taken in conjunction with other medications such as insulin. Patients with Type 1 diabetes, however, should not take the drug.

Actos Side Effects

There have been consistent updates provided by Takeda Pharmaceuticals regarding the side effects linked with Actos use. In addition, the company has provided consistent updates on the drug’s warning label. Some of the side effects linked with Actos use include the following:

• Sinus infection
• Headaches
• Sore throat
• Cold-like symptoms
• Muscle pain

However, there have also been devastating side effects linked with the use of Actos that include:

• A heightened risk of bladder cancer development.
• Liver problems.
• Broken bones or fractures.
• Low blood sugar.
• Diabetic eye disease, or macular edema.
• Heart failure.

A particularly common and unfortunate side effect associated with use of Actos is the development of bladder cancer. After an extensive, continuous safety review of Actos, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a June 6, 2011 statement warning that extended use of the drug put users at risk of developing bladder cancer. The FDA, when making the statement, made reference to a French study conducted by researchers that uncovered the problem of bladder cancer development. Those findings alarmed French researchers to the extent that authorities in the country stopped the use of the drug. Because of the risks associated with Actos use, German researchers also recommended that doctors in that country not begin patients on the drug. There have, as of this writing, been about 70 cases filed by patients who have developed bladder cancer after using Actos.

How to Pursue Actos Injury Legal Action

When you decide to take legal action in the form of a Houston Actos injury lawsuit, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. This is the truth in regard to any sort of drug injury litigation. Drug cases are incredibly complex due to the several variables involved in determining how all of them proceed. These include the statute of limitations and multi-district litigation, or MDL. MDL is where the same case is tried in different jurisdictions. In several instances, MDLs take place in different states. There are other factors that make mass tort litigation extremely difficult. Without the help of an experience Houston Actos injury lawyer, you will have very little possibility of obtaining the full and fair restitution that you deserve. The Houston Actos injury attorneys with Grossman Law Offices have dealt with this kind of litigation for two decades. During that time we have helped hundreds of victims of drug injuries secure the equitable compensation they had coming to them.

You must pay a great deal of attention to the manner in which your lawyer deals with your case. Several law firms will simply decide to group your case with other similar pieces of litigation. Once the case is won and restitution is awarded, the firm will then equally divide the funds equally among all of the victims. This will be the case after either an out-of-court settlement is procured or a victory is secured in trial. Because of this, hundreds of Actos injury victims could have to split one amount of compensation. But the Actos injury lawsuit attorneys with Grossman Law Offices feel this is neither a fair nor proper way to treat injury victims. Nor is it the correct and equitable way to deal with an Actos injury lawsuit.

We make sure that we give our Actos injury clients the individual and comprehensive attention they deserve. While other law firms will decide to group all of their clients into the same class action lawsuit, we will work tenaciously to ensure that each and every one of our clients have the opportunity to receive the full restitution that they deserve for the monetary losses and health problems they have suffered. We strongly believe that this is the only manner in which we can provide our clients with the level of service they deserve.

How Drug Injury Cases Work in General

Any time a product is introduced to the marketplace – it doesn’t matter if it is a hair dryer, a new brand of potato chips or a drug – it more or less must perform as advertised. When it comes to a prescription drug, this is, of course, especially important. The medication cannot lead to any unintended, devastating consequences. You would not expect to get sick by eating a bag of peanuts, just as you would not expect to be injured by taking a prescription drug. In both instances, you consume the product assuming it has been thoroughly researched and tested and is safe to use.

But it is unreasonable to assume that a company that manufactures a drug can know each and every problem that could develop through the use of the medication. The chemistry of the human anatomy is far too complex to be able to make that sort of assumption. However, if hundreds of people are harmed because of the use of a drug – as has been alleged through use of Actos – then they can correctly assume that the company that manufactured the drug was negligent in preparing that drug for public consumption and identifying the medication’s harmful effects.

It is vitally important that you realize – you cannot expect to win your Actos injury case due to a small technicality. This is a substantially flawed strategy of litigation. You have to produce rock-solid evidence that the drug manufacturer was guilty of negligence in the design or production of the drug. Otherwise you will not be able to obtain the restitution that you deserve. You have to also make a compelling argument that the manufacturer was either aware or should have known that the drug it created had harmful side effects. There are many instances where the Houston Actos injury attorneys with Grossman Law Offices have revealed that the manufacturer of a drug valued profit margins over the health of the patients taking its medication.

The Difference Between Class Action Suits and Mass Torts

As we covered previously, each kind of drug injury case has its own specific, special kinds of complexity. One of the biggest challenges involved in this kind of litigation is that, many times, multiple injury victims are all trying to obtain compensation from the same defendant, for the same negligent act committed by the defendant. Think about a car wreck that occurs when one driver hits 10 other cars. If that case goes to court, the presiding judge will lump all of those cases into one large case. This happens regularly because courts will usually try and eliminate several instances of the same kind of litigation.

A drug injury case works in much the same way. If multiple victims are injured due to a single negligent act, they can work collectively to obtain compensation from the same defendant that is responsible for their suffering. There is a vital difference between class action litigation and mass torts. All plaintiffs, or victims, in a class action lawsuit have both the same claim and the same cause of action. But while all plaintiffs in a mass tort have the same cause of action, each one has his or her own individual case.

Basically, it breaks down like this: in a class action lawsuit, all plaintiffs receive the same restitution. Each plaintiff in a mass tort is awarded the restitution to which he or she is entitled. In a class action suit you get what you get, while in a mass tort you get what you deserve. You’re not just getting the same-sized piece of a pie that is distributed equally among all plaintiffs.

It can be very tough for a plaintiff to win full and fair compensation through a class action lawsuit. One example does not have anything to do with a drug injury, but it still illustrates how a class action suit can be detrimental to a plaintiff. In 2009 ProFlowers.com was the target of a class action suit filed by consumers who accused the company of false advertising. The company claimed it sold “the freshest flowers anywhere,” but consumers alleged that the flowers they received were nearly dead. ProFlowers.com, as many companies do when facing this kind of lawsuit, agreed to an out-of-court settlement. However, while ProFlowers.com paid $250,000 in lawyer fees, the plaintiffs “won” $10 ProFlowers.com coupons. Sometimes a class action lawsuit can benefit a plaintiff; a Houston Actos lawsuit, however, is not one of those instances.

The Representative Case

Any kind of mass tort litigation – a Houston Actos lawsuit included – has its basis in the representative case. The representative case is when the first plaintiff (or one of the first groups of plaintiffs) files a lawsuit and it goes to a trial. The plaintiff will then produce evidence that establishes the extent of the injury that has been suffered, and the court will put a monetary value on the pain and suffering, medical bills and lost wages incurred by the plaintiff. In addition, the judge or jury could choose to assign punitive damages meant to punish a defendant for a particularly egregious act of negligence.

As we have already stated, all future Actos drug injury lawsuits are determined by the decision rendered in the representative case. This occurs in the same way that when the Supreme Court makes a decision in regard to how the constitution is applied, lower courts follow that decision. There are also instances where a judge will order a defendant to put money in a trust fund used to provide restitution to future victims of the defendant’s negligence.

The Importance of the Statute of Limitations

You might not have heard the term “cause of action” before, but it is imperative that you understand it, because it is a huge aspect of your drug injury case. You must establish for the court that the defendant violated a duty of care that you were owed. Then, and only then, will you have a cause of action. And since you have established that you have a cause of action, you are then eligible to seek restitution from the defendant. However, there is a sort of “shelf life” associated with a cause of action, and that is the “statute of limitations” with which you are probably familiar. You could have the strongest case in the history of law and it won’t matter if your statute of limitations has expired, for when the statute of limitations runs out, so does your cause of action. And if you have no cause of action, you have no case.

There are several variables associated with the statute of limitations, as with most components of a drug injury case. Typically, a plaintiff will have two years from when the defendant breached the duty of care to file a lawsuit. However, there are several times when many questions regarding statute of limitations are raised – particularly in instances of drug injury litigation. When did the breach occur? Was it the day you first took the medication? The day you first became aware that you had suffered an injury? Was it the first day that you associated the drug with the injury you had suffered?

In every instance, the court will try and be reasonable and fair when it comes to the statute of limitations. The court will always try and make sure that a plaintiff has every opportunity possible to pursue restitution through the means of a lawsuit. There have, obviously, been several drug cases decided in the past, and because of this a great deal of case law can be referenced. Through a thorough analysis of case law, a rule of thumb has been established. According to this rule, the plaintiff’s statute of limitations begins when the injury victim should have been aware that his or her injury took place due to the negligence of the defendant. The effective date, per this case law, is when the FDA or the manufacturer issued the statement that warned users of the side effects associated with the drug. Basically, the statute of limitations begins when the drug’s dangers became “common knowledge.” Going back to the case of Actos, that date was June 6, 2011 when the FDA issued its warning. As we referenced briefly, there are instances where a manufacturer will make a voluntary announcement concerning possible risks associated with use of its product. This is another way of establishing common knowledge.

Your Drug Injury Case and Multi-District Litigation

As we previously covered, the statute of limitations will have a very significant effect on the course your drug injury litigation takes. Once the manufacturer or the FDA establishes common knowledge, then you must determine how long you have to pursue litigation. The statute of limitations in Texas is two years, while in Arkansas it is three. But when residents of different states are involved in a mass tort, which statute of limitations is observed?

The answer lies in multi-district litigation. Earlier we told you of the importance of a drug injury lawsuit’s representative case, and that it will determine the course of future cases involving that drug. The judge presiding over the representative case will have an immense workload. He or she must first deal with a trial that could take weeks – or months – to conclude. Then, he or she will have to employ a great deal of foresight, because that decision will affect several future plaintiffs. Typically, the representative case will be tried in the jurisdiction of the defendant’s headquarters. Any future cases involving the mass tort will be decided in the court that decided the representative case. The procedures and rules of that court will be followed; it does not matter where the plaintiff lives. However, a “hybrid” combination of laws will be observed regarding the laws of the representative case’s jurisdiction and the laws that apply to where the plaintiff resides. For instance, while the rules and procedures of the representative court will be followed, the statute of limitations where the plaintiff resides will be observed. In regard to Actos, a joint panel on multi-district litigation was scheduled to be heard on December 1 in order to establish an Actos MDL in Savannah, Georgia. Most observers, as of this writing, expected the Actos MDL to begin at the end of 2011 with litigation and discovery requests expected to begin early in 2012.

How to Obtain the Restitution to Which You are Entitled

As covered previously, the presiding judge in the representative case will decide how much money the defendant must put into a trust to fund future compensation awarded to future plaintiffs. This is another illustration of how important it is to have the help of an experienced Houston Actos injury attorney working in your best interests to help you obtain the full and fair restitution to which you are entitled.

There is a great deal of nuance that is a part of every drug injury case, nuance that can seem like a foreign language to non-attorneys and can overwhelm inexperienced lawyers. Every court has its own procedures and rules – if you fail to follow them to the letter, your case can be thrown out. And if the court orders a manufacturer to compensate all of the plaintiffs involved in a mass tort, that defendant can soon be depleted of resources. In this circumstance, the plaintiffs become part of a “race against time,” so to speak, racing to complete their cases before the defendant runs out of money. If you do not act aggressively and quickly, your litigation could wind up as nothing more than a waste of money and time. You must also realize that you will have to put a price tag on your damages, known in the legal realm as “proving up” your damages. You will have to have an experienced Houston Actos drug injury lawyer who can make sure your case is decided before the defendant is depleted of resources. You also need one who has the experience necessary to be able to accurately calculate damages.

Can Your Doctor Face Liability?

Typically, the company that manufactured the drug is the most obviously liable party in a Houston Actos drug injury case. This is true from both a legal and practical perspective. Whenever a company manufactures a product meant for public consumption – particularly in the case of a prescription drug – the person using that product should reasonably expect not to be harmed by using it. Typically, there are some minor side effects that arise from use of almost every kind of medication. However, when a catastrophic side effect such as development of bladder cancer or kidney failure takes place, then, of course, this is considered to be an unreasonable risk. Should a manufacturer be guilty of negligence and a catastrophic malady or injury is the result, then the manufacturer should rightly assume most of the blame for that negligence.

However, a lot of people also believe that the next most logical party to sue would be the doctor who wrote the prescription for the medication that caused harm. Once again, from both a legal and practical standpoint this is almost always a course of action that is not recommended. It is often incredibly difficult to file a lawsuit against a medical professional and win, due to the limits on liability that provide doctors and other medical practitioners protection from legal action. More importantly, however, is the simple fact that the doctor, in almost every instance, does nothing wrong, thereby rendering a Houston Actos drug injury lawsuit useless. Normally, the involvement of the doctor ends after the prescription is written. Should the doctor have written a prescription for Actors, for instance, with the full knowledge that use of the drug had been associated with a number of catastrophic side effects, then it could be worth it to take legal action. This is especially true if the patient taking the drug had a high risk of bladder cancer development. However, in the vast majority of instances, a doctor will prescribe medication based solely on the information they have at hand in regard to its safety. If an injury results after a doctor writes a prescription for a drug, the doctor – in almost all instances – did not have the slightest idea the drug had potentially severe side effects because those problems had not been common knowledge. However, you could sue your doctor if he or she had been aware of that common knowledge and prescribed the drug anyway. While this does happen from time to time, this is exceedingly rare.

A number of victims of drug injuries have also asked us if they could sue the FDA and make them a defendant in their drug injury litigation. However, in almost every instance, that answer is a resounding “no.” You cannot sue the FDA if you are harmed by a drug, even if it fails to carry out its “discretionary function or duty.” The purpose of the FDA is, indeed, to protect the public from defective products. However, if you are a victim of such a defective product, and even if you can prove that the FDA failed to perform its function, you still cannot sue the agency. The FDA, in the majority of instances, does not do anything wrong – much like doctors in regard to drug injury litigation. A lawsuit against the FDA, for many legal and practical reasons, would be nothing more than a waste of money and time.

Whether or not You Have the Basis of a Houston Actos Lawsuit

An Actos injury case, like all instances of drug injury cases, is very complex and difficult. There are several considerations that go into deciding whether or not you have the basis for a Houston Actos drug injury lawsuit. If, after taking Actos, the worst you suffered was a headache or a sore throat, then you will likely not have the grounds for a suit because your damages are not substantial enough. However, if you have suffered a devastating condition such as kidney failure or bladder cancer, then that is not, as mentioned previously, a reasonable risk. You have probably suffered significant financial losses. There is no way you could have reasonably expected that you would have incurred such extreme suffering by taking the medication.

How Grossman Law Offices Can Help You

Hopefully, after reading the information in this article you are well aware of the fact that you need the help of a Houston Actos drug injury attorney to make sure your rights are protected. Again, this is an incredibly complex and challenging area of the legal realm, and you will almost certainly lose your case if you try and act as your own attorney. All instances of drug injury litigation have several intricate differences. And you and your legal representative must be keenly aware of all of your case’s intricacies and complexities. There are many similarities among different drug cases, but none of them are exactly alike.

The Houston Actos lawyers with Grossman Law Offices work extremely passionately to ensure that our clients obtain the equitable restitution that they deserve. Our strategy is always based on the individual merits of our clients’ cases – we do not merely put a large number of clients in the same group just because they share the same cause of action. We provide individual and comprehensive attention to each and every single one of our clients in order to give them the best possible chance of obtaining the compensation to which they are entitled. If you have suffered a severe injury after taking Actos, or someone close to you has suffered a catastrophic side effect, please call the Houston Actos drug injury attorneys with Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-392-0000 (toll free) for a confidential and free consultation in regard to the specific circumstances of your case. We will provide you with an honest assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your litigation, and tell you how we may be able to be of assistance. We are standing by 24 hours a day, seven days a week to answer any questions that you may have. Please give us a call and take advantage of our experience and extremely strong track record of success.