Lawyers To Provide Information About Suboxone Dental Injury Records, Product Identification in Their Possession

The U.S. District Judge presiding over all federal Suboxone tooth decay lawsuits expects lawyers to submit information on Monday, regarding dental injury records and product identification in their possession for thousands of claims filed on a bundled complaint this summer, as the parties prepare to select a small group of representative bellwether cases for early trial dates.

There are currently more than 11,000 product liability lawsuits being pursued against the makers of Suboxone throughout the federal court system, each raising similar allegations that former users of the sublingual film version suffered devastating dental damage because the drug maker failed to adequately disclose the risks that the opioid treatment may degrade enamel and cause tooth decay.

It was not until June 17, 2022 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required a label update to warn about the risk of Suboxone dental injuries, after identifying hundreds of complaints involving tooth decay experienced by users. However, plaintiffs maintain that they may have avoided permanent Suboxone injuries if earlier warnings and instructions had been provided by the drug maker.

Given common allegations raised in the litigation, all Suboxone film lawsuits have been centralized in an MDL before U.S. District Judge Philip Calabrese, who is presiding over coordinated discovery and is expected to schedule a series of early bellwether trials, which will help the parties gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the claims.

Bundled Suboxone Dental Injury Complaints

Leading up to a potential statute of limitations deadline triggered by the two year anniversary of the warning label update in June 2024, Judge Calabrese allowed plaintiffs to file a massive bundled complaint, consisting of about 9,600 Suboxone dental injury cases, which lawyers were still investigating to determine whether each claimant had sufficient exposure to brand-name Suboxone film to cause their reported tooth decay.

To avoid thousands of individual lawsuits being filed for claims that were not yet fully vetted, the Court allowed plaintiffs to file one bundled complaint, which contained an attached schedule listing limited information about each plaintiff, including where they resided, when they were prescribed Suboxone, and where they used the drug.

Earlier this month, Judge Calabrese met with lawyers involved in the case to review the status of discovery, and information that will be exchanged about each claim to allow the parties to identify a representative sample of Suboxone injury cases for the bellwether process.

In an order (PDF) issued on September 6, the court indicated that plaintiffs’ lawyers have agreed to provide additional information in their possession regarding each of the individuals included on the bundled complaint by September 30, including records of dental injury and product identification.

The parties are then scheduled to meet again with Judge Calabrese on October 4, at which time the Court plans to work with the lawyers to create a final census form, which will be completed by every claimant in the litigation.

“Subject to further discussion with the parties, the Court anticipates an intermediate stage in which some number of claimants provide more information but less than full bellwether work-up for trial to create a pool for selection of bellwether cases,” wrote Judge Calabrese in minutes from the last status conference.

Following the selection of a representative sample of claims, the parties will move forward with a lengthy case-specific discovery process, including the exchange of expert reports and other evidence establishing how Suboxone causes dental injuries, before a smaller group is identified for the first trial dates.

While the outcome of these early bellwether trials will not have any binding impact on remaining claims, the average Suboxone dental injury lawsuit payout may impact the amount of money the drug maker will be required to pay to avoid the need for each individual lawsuit to go before a jury in the future.