Meningitis

HBSS attorneys Thomas M. Sobol and Kristen A. Johnson serve as Court-appointed Lead Counsel for the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee on behalf of plaintiff-victims of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak in MDL 2419 consolidated before The Honorable Rya W. Zobel in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.  In addition to serving as Lead Counsel, HBSS filed multiple lawsuits on behalf of individual injured victims who were administered contaminated drugs compounded at the New England Compounding Pharmacy, Inc. d/b/a New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham, Massachusetts.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed that NECC sold at least 17,000 potentially tainted steroid shots to 75 clinics in 23 states across the country, resulting in more than 64 deaths and 751 cases of fungal meningitis, stroke, or paraspinal/peripheral joint infection.

Proposed Chapter 11 Plan

Approval of a proposed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Plan for NECC (Plan) is pending a vote in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts.  The proposed Plan includes settlements with NECC, its principals, insurers, and affiliated companies, several contract vendors that did work for NECC, and certain healthcare providers that purchased and administered tainted drugs.  Under the Plan, certain settlement monies are to be held in a tort trust for the benefit of tort claimants that file timely claims and provide proof of injection and injury resulting from contaminated NECC product.

Bankruptcy Plan Deadlines

Creditor ballots for Plan voting due:  May 5, 2015, 4:00 p.m. EDT
Plan Confirmation Hearing: May 19, 2015, 10:00 a.m. EDT

Settlements Pursuant to the Chapter 11 Plan

A copy of the full version of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee’s plain-English overview of the Plan and Disclosure Statement can be found here.

The Tort Trust will be funded by Settlements with National Defendants as follows with estimated amounts (subject to fees and expenses):

In addition to the Settlements with National Defendants, the Chapter 11 Trustee has entered into the following Settlements with certain clinics, hospitals and doctor’s offices that administered tainted NECC drugs (subject to fees and expenses):

These Provider-Specific Funds will principally be distributed to the Tort Claimants who were administered contaminated drugs at High Point, Inspira, and Insight.   Some portion of the High Point, Inspira, and Insight settlements will be available generally to pay Chapter 11 claims and expenses.

Under the Plan, in exchange for funding these Settlements, claims against the involved parties will be “released,” and any future claims barred as further described in the Plan and Disclosure Statement. 

After certain payments are made to other non-tort creditors of NECC and funds are used to pay the administrative costs as required under applicable bankruptcy law, the remaining funds will be placed into the Tort Trust for the benefit of Tort Claimants.

Additional Resources

MDL Website: http://neccmdl.com/

Further Information Regarding HBSS

If you received an epidural steroid injection and developed symptoms of fungal meningitis, you are encouraged to contact a meningitis lawyer for a free consultation by filling out the contact form on the right side of this page.

You can also reach our attorneys by calling (617) 482-3700 or by emailing Meningitis@hbsslaw.com.

HBSS’s Boston office focuses on investigating, litigating and trying drug cases. For years, HBSS Boston has aggressively pursued pharmaceutical litigation, helping lead the litigation fight for a more responsible pharmaceutical and medical device industry.