Official site of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

United States District Court
Middle District of Florida
Orlando Division

MDL 1769

In re: Seroquel Products Liability Litigation

No. 6:06-md-1769-Orl-22DAB

This multidistrict litigation centers on Seroquel, a prescription drug manufactured and sold by AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. First approved for use in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1997, the drug is still on the market today as one of a number of medications known as second-generation, or “atypical,” antipsychotics. Although initially indicated only to treat the “manifestations of psychotic disorders,” including schizophrenia, Seroquel has since been approved for additional uses in patients suffering from bipolar disorder.

Several years ago, people who had been prescribed Seroquel by their doctors began filing lawsuits against AstraZeneca, primarily alleging that they had developed diabetes and other related disorders as a result of their ingestion of the drug. In July 2006, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferred ninety-two actions, filed by 112 plaintiffs, involving alleged injuries resulting from the use of Seroquel to this Court for consolidated and coordinated pretrial proceedings. Since that time, this multidistrict litigation has grown to include the personal injury claims of approximately 8,500 people from across the nation. Approximately 20,000 additional cases are pending in state courts in Delaware, New Jersey and elsewhere.

Pursuant to Rule 7.6 of the Rules of Procedure of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, and upon review of the files in the cases now pending in MDL 1769, the Court has suggested to the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation that all cases subject to remand are ready for remand to their appropriate transferor jurisdictions. The Court has found that these cases will no longer benefit from centralized proceedings; all common discovery and other coordinated pretrial proceedings are complete, and the remaining case-specific issues are best left to the transferor courts to decide. In addition, the Court has entered a Final Pretrial Order (below, under the heading "Remand") to chronicle the coordinated proceedings and to provide guidance to transferor courts after remand. What follows is a reference index containing the key orders organized by topic.

UPDATE (9/1/10): In light of the recent success of settlement negotiations, the Court has withdrawn the Suggestion of Remand and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has vacated all related conditional remand orders. Consequently, the MDL cases remain a coordinated action subject to continuing court-ordered mediation.

Initial Scheduling/Discovery Orders/General Matters

Initial Scheduling Order (8/15/06)

Initial Discovery Order (9/11/06)

Order re: organization of counsel; appointment of lead/liaison counsel (1/16/07)

Stipulation of dismissal of seven named defendants (8/10/07)

Order re: Dismissal of seven named defendants (11/6/07)

Order re: AstraZeneca's duty to preserve GEL intermediate data; deferring determination of remedy (6/24/08)

Case Management Orders

Case Management Order No. 1 (1/26/07)

Order amending status conference procedures (4/11/08)

Case Management Order No. 2 (1/26/07)

Order amending sanctions provision (7/19/07)

Order preserving amended sanctions provision (9/14/07)

Order requiring filing of short form complaints/answers in severed cases (3/7/07)(amended by text order at docket #180)

Case Management Order No. 3 (4/13/07)

Order establishing protocol for filing motions in master docket/individual dockets (6/22/07)

Case Management Order No. 4 (7/6/07)

Case Management Order No. 5 (1/11/08)

Special Masters

Order appointing Special Master Project Management Office (SM-PMO) (8/3/07)

Order appointing Special Master for Electronically Stored Information (SM-ESI) (9/27/07)

Order establishing duties of SM-ESI (10/5/07)

Order on division of fees (11/16/07)

Order modifying duties of SM-ESI (2/21/08)

First Status Report (10/26/07)

Second Status Report (11/13/07)

Third Status Report (12/17/07)

Fourth Status Report (1/22/08)

Fifth Status Report (4/8/08)

Order appointing Special Master for Alternative Dispute Resolution (SM-ADR) (1/27/09)

Status Report (4/2/10)

Initial Case-Specific Discovery Program

Order initiating program (6/11/07)

Order defining scope of program (8/3/07)

Order amending procedure for seeking review of case-specific discovery disputes (4/11/08)

CS Administrative Order No. 1 (9/19/07)

CS Administrative Order No. 2 (9/19/07)

CS Administrative Order No. 3 (10/5/07)

Amended CS Administrative Order No. 4 (5/22/08)

Protective Order/Confidentiality

Protective Order (9/19/07)

Order amending protective order (6/25/08)

Order approving third party endorsement of protective order (10/18/07)

Order denying protective order re: sales representative visits with physicians (11/1/07)

Judge Baker's order compelling unsealing of call notes and IMS marketing data (8/10/09)

Judge Conway affirms (11/16/09)

Discovery

General Fact Discovery

Order finding AstraZeneca's discovery conduct sanctionable (8/21/07)

Judge Baker's order compelling production of unredacted MacFadden documents (9/20/07)

Judge Conway affirms (10/23/07)

Order compelling AstraZeneca to identify and produce documents reviewed by corporate witnesses in preparation for 30(b)(6) depositions (1/24/08)

Judge Conway affirms (2/28/08)

Order compelling AstraZeneca to produce regulatory and marketing documents (2/21/08)

Order permitting Plaintiffs to conduct written question and oral depositions of "key opinion leaders" (3/3/08)

Order compelling AstraZeneca to produce metadata associated with prior redacted materials (6/25/08)

Order compelling AstraZeneca to produce FDA submission documents and correspondence (11/12/08)

Expert Discovery

Stipulation re: use of expert discovery at multiple trials (11/7/08)

Zyprexa Documents

Order compelling Eli Lilly to produce Zyprexa documents (10/18/07)

Order compelling Plaintiffs to produce Zyprexa-related documents (6/23/08)

Non-Party Documents

Order compelling Edelman to produce documents/privilege log; compelling Parexel to produce corporate representative for 30(b)(6) deposition re: scope and cost of production (11/29/07)

Order compelling Harris Interactive to produce documents and bear all costs except cost of reproduction (12/6/07)

Order compelling Parexel production (3/12/08)

Privilege

Order finding bulk of lodged documents unprivileged; endeavoring to review documents with designated AstraZeneca representative (5/7/08)

Order denying Plaintiffs' motion to compel de-designation as untimely (11/6/09)

Global Issues

Order denying Rule 12(c) preemption motion without prejudice to refiling after further discovery (11/6/07)

Order permitting general causation testimony of Dr. Wirshing (2/11/09)

Order permitting general causation testimony of Dr. Arnett (6/18/09)

Order permitting general causation testimony of Dr. Plunkett (6/23/09)

Order re: non-causation testimony of Drs. Wirshing, Arnett and Plunkett (7/20/09)

Order re: Mark Scott testimony (7/15/09)

Joint Master Trial Exhibit List - Part A (9/30/09)

Part B

Part C

Part D

Florida Trial Group

Procedure

Case Management Order No. 5 (1/11/08)

Order amending procedure for selection of Initial Trial Pool cases (4/22/08)

Order amending procedure for selection of cases for trial (7/14/08)

Order modifying trial preparation deadlines (8/1/08)

CS Administrative Order No. 5 (5/29/08)

Judge Baker's order permitting AstraZeneca to retain local physicians as expert witnesses (3/21/08)