Lawsuits over shoulder pain pumps and their link to PAGCL, or postarthroscopic glenohumeral chondrolysis, a condition where the cartilage disintegrates between the humeral head in the shoulder and the glenoid (ball and the socket), are being filed throughout the country. If you've been injured by one of these medical devices, it's important to decide which venue is best for you. Our legal expert provides some insight.

Choosing the right venue

Although pain pump cases have been filed in state and federal courts across the nation, there has been some jockeying for position as to where these cases are to be housed, according to Jeff Milman, a California attorney whose practice represents injured pain pump victims. He explained:

I-Flow, who is one of the manufacturers of these pain pumps, is headquartered in California. So a number of firms outside of California who have patients that may have even been treated in far states like Maryland are filing their cases in California. Others are choosing to file their cases in their home jurisdictions, depending on how favorable the laws are to them, claiming that the medical treatment they received was in their state and therefore that’s more proper.

Some cases are clustered around specific areas. For example, Florida and California have quite a few because manufacturers are headquartered in those states. There are also cases in federal jurisdictions that are moving their way through the various legal systems.

While every situation is different, an experienced pain pump attorney will be able to determine which venue is best for you.

Cases moving towards trial and/or settlement

Milman says that even though certain issues still to be ironed out, much has happened with pain pump litigation in the past few months. He told us:

There have been a number of discovery depositions occurring as well as one or more trials that have already occurred. There’s some very favorable medical articles in the literature that are coming out in support of our cases. In addition, there have also been a number of battles in the federal court under what we call Daubert, which is where the judge acts as a gatekeeper to decide if the science is sound enough to proceed to a jury. That being said and done, these cases are moving towards trial and/or settlement.

Will the MDL be re-established?

We asked Milman whether there is any talk about trying to re-establish the MDL (Multidistrict Litigation). He told us that there is talk of it on two fronts:

One is to once again try and establish a federal MDL. The other is to request a JCCP (Judicial Council Coordinated Proceeding), which coordinates all the cases before one particular judge for purposes of discovery so that you don’t have to take the same depositions in each cases and then eventually when the case gets ready to go to trial, it can be sent back to its hometown to be tried. Right now there has not been a JCCP request filed in California, but they are doing some of that in other states.

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