Levaquin Lawsuit Eligibility Considered

More than 2,500 Levaquin lawsuits have been filed by plaintiffs who have experienced tendon rupture and rotator cuff tearing associated with the broad-spectrum antibiotic Levaquin, but only one has seen trial. John Schedin suffered Achilles tendon ruptures after only eight days on Levaquin. His lawsuit was chosen as the first bellwether trial in Levaquin consolidated federal litigation – a bellwether trial is a preliminary trial that will help Levaquin lawyers and plaintiffs gauge the possible outcome for their own trial.

Luckily for Schedin – and many other Levaquin plaintiffs – the jury ruled in his favor, awarding him $700,000 in compensatory damages – later lowered to $630,000 after it was determined that he was responsible for ten percent of his injury risk – and $1.1 million in punitive damages. Judging by this case, Levaquin trials could be extremely expensive for drugmaker Ortho-McNeil-Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

One of the most important aspects of the Schedin trial was that the jury determined that, although Levaquin did come with a warning of the possibility for Levaquin tendon rupture, the actual risk was not sufficiently represented by the drugmaker. This decision will likely have an impact on subsequent Levaquin cases and influence decisions in favor of the plaintiff. Although the Schedin trial does not represent exactly what will happen in each Levaquin case, it is a good indicator of the basic structure of the legal process for these cases and will help plaintiffs get a feel for what they can expect from their own Levaquin trials. Former users of the antibiotic can gauge their chances at success through Levaquin litigation by comparing similarities between their own cases and the Schedin trial.

Eligibility for Levaquin litigation can be determined when a potential plaintiff contacts an experienced Levaquin lawyer, but several factors will almost certainly be taken into consideration – duration of prescription before side effect was experienced, reason for taking the drug, level of awareness of potential side effects, and severity of side effects. These variables can affect everything from the ability to file suit to the outcome of a Levaquin trial.