Cipro, Levaquin & Avelox Lawsuits

As of July 2024, only four active lawsuits remained open in the fluoroquinolone multidistrict litigation (MDL) No. 2642 in Minnesota federal court. Originally, 1,270 cases claimed fluoroquinolone antibiotics caused peripheral neuropathy side effects.

According to court minutes from status conferences in 2024, defendants and plaintiffs have entered settlement mediations and resolved most cases in that fashion.

A few other lawsuits for aortic aneurysms were filed in various state courts after a 2015 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine revealed an increased risk and the FDA issued a warning. However, many of these cases were dismissed or closed and were never consolidated into an MDL.

The first of these fluoroquinolone cases was filed in 2015. Because the litigation is ending, our legal partners and most lawyers are no longer taking these cases.

The three central injuries in fluoroquinolone lawsuits were peripheral neuropathy, aortic aneurysm and tendon rupture. The main allegation in these litigations is that manufacturers failed to warn of side effects.

According to the original transfer order for peripheral neuropathy lawsuits, plaintiffs in this litigation claimed manufacturers failed to warn of the risk of peripheral neuropathy and manufactured a dangerous product. After bellwether trials were selected in 2017, they never proceeded to trial and were resolved confidentially.

A cancer survivor, Ann Winslow, told Drugwatch the story of how she suffered from neuropathy and chronic nerve pain after taking Cipro and Levaquin. She has since passed away.

“I couldn’t get to the bathroom on my own. I couldn’t even make a cup of coffee. I had to wear gloves because God forbid I touch something. The pain in my hands was so bad,” Winslow said. “You sit on the couch with your arms around your knees, you don’t want your feet to touch anything.”

Judicial Panel Consolidates Federal Lawsuits

In August 2015, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered all federal neuropathy cases to be transferred to the District of Minnesota for consolidated pretrial proceedings. The panel assigned the cases to U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim.

At the time, about 80 actions were pending in nearly 40 federal districts. Additional cases (some of which were transferred to the MDL) were also pending in state court in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Oklahoma.

The remaining lawsuits in the MDL have been slowly resolved with confidential settlements, though the MDL remained open in July 2024.

Plaintiffs in Cipro, Levaquin and Avelox aortic aneurysm lawsuits claimed drug makers failed to warn the public that the antibiotics posed a risk for aortic aneurysms and dissections. As a result, patients experienced permanent and/or long-lasting side effects of using fluoroquinolones, according to Benn Prybutok’s lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson.

Because the companies failed to adequately warn doctors of the risks, doctors could not inform and instruct patients, lawsuits said. The companies’ failure to warn also led to patients receiving these drugs instead of other adequate antibiotics, according to complaints filed in federal court.

Jerry Conway suffered an aneurysm after taking Cipro and Levaquin and filed a lawsuit. At the time, Conway was 57 years old and very active and fit. His doctor prescribed him these two powerful antibiotics for a sinus infection.

“I am angry that these medical companies never told us of the risks,” Conway told Drugwatch. “My heart doctor told me that I was so bad he never thought that I would make it out of rehab. My respiratory doctor told me that my heart issues were the worst he ever witnessed.”

People who filed Cipro, Levaquin and Avelox tendon rupture lawsuits claim the first warnings came after the FDA added a black box warning in 2008, but defendants knew as early as 2003 and didn’t warn sooner. These were some of the earliest fluoroquinolone antibiotic lawsuits.

Rachel Brummert told Drugwatch she has suffered 24 tendon ruptures after taking Levaquin. The first happened only a month after she took the drug.

“My Achilles tendon spontaneously ruptured in my right ankle and balled up in my calf. At age 36, that was the first of dozens of tendon ruptures,” Brummert said.

Judge Tunheim also oversaw pretrial proceedings for a separate MDL involving Levaquin. Plaintiffs in that MDL were prescribed Levaquin and allege that it causes tendon rupture.

Plaintiffs in the tendon rupture MDL claim the defendants, Johnson & Johnson and Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., failed to adequately warn of the side effect.

The plaintiffs began filing lawsuits in late 2006, and the MDL was created in 2008. Around the same time, the FDA added a black box warning to fluoroquinolones for the increased risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture.

Levaquin Tendon Rupture Jury Verdict

John Schedin’s case was the first to go to trial out of about 2,600 tendon rupture claims across the country. In December 2010, a jury awarded Schedin $700,000, finding that Johnson & Johnson failed to warn about the risk of tendon rupture with Levaquin.

The jury also awarded $1,115,000 in punitive damages, but it was later reversed. The second and third bellwether trials were tried in June 2011 and January 2012, respectively. Both resulted in jury verdicts in favor of Johnson & Johnson and Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc.

About 2,049 total actions were filed under the MDL. Records show hundreds of cases ended in settlements. Others were transferred or remanded and subsequently dismissed. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation officially closed the MDL in July 2017.