PHILADELPHIA Judge throws out suits against Bayer

The judge said the cases should be dealt with in other states.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A Philadelphia judge has begun tossing out lawsuits by people who said they suffered strokes after taking Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold medicine, saying the claims should be dealt with in other states.
Ruling in the cases of five plaintiffs from Washington, Hawaii, Missouri and Arizona, Common Pleas Judge Norman Ackerman said it would be inconvenient for the suits to be tried in Pennsylvania, even though Alka-Seltzer's maker, Bayer Corp., is based in Pittsburgh.
Dozens of similar lawsuits could meet the same fate. Hundreds of people, the judge noted, have sued pharmaceutical companies in Philadelphia over strokes they say are related to phenylpropanolamine, which was formerly an ingredient in Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold.
"Most of those cases, like this one, involve out-of-state plaintiffs who chose to file [in Philadelphia] for no apparent reason other than the fact that their attorneys have their offices here," Ackerman wrote in the case of Larry Hunter of Seattle.
The judge, who is chief of a special Philadelphia court that hears complicated product liability cases involving huge numbers of plaintiffs, suggested that Hunter's claim would be better heard in Washington state.
Plans to appeal
Philadelphia attorney Arnold Levin, who represents two plaintiffs whose cases were dismissed, vowed an appeal.
He said several of the cases had been before the court for two years and were close to trial. Asking the plaintiffs to start fresh in new states, he said, could mean delays of at least two more years, and possibly four times that if the cases go to federal court. He said some of his clients might die before their cases are heard.
Albert Bixler, an attorney for Bayer, declined to comment.
Lawyers said Ackerman's ruling is likely to be repeated in other cases involving out-of-state plaintiffs suing Bayer, and might have ramifications for hundreds of other suits filed in Philadelphia's Complex Litigation Center.
Danger of clogging court
In an opinion filed late last week, Ackerman said that while the court is "an admitted leader in the mass tort pharmaceutical area," it is in danger of becoming clogged with suits that could, and probably should, be tried elsewhere.
Phenylpropanolamine was used in many prescription cough and cold medications and in weight loss products before the Food and Drug Administration asked pharmaceutical companies to remove it in 2000. The recommendation followed studies indicating that people who took phenylpropanolamine bore a slightly increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke.