Information on Reglan® Class Action

If you or a loved one has suffered from serious health issues, including Tardive dyskinesia and Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, after using Reglan® - a prescription drug that is specifically designed for the short-term treatment of gastroesophageal reflux - you may need information regarding Reglan Class Action and Reglan lawyers.

How DrugRxRecall Can Help You

We can provide you with important data, information and advice on Reglan® class actions; and we will be pleased to help you find a lawyer in your area who can offer you a free consultation and advise you of all your rights.

We are here to help you with your questions and concerns about Reglan® class actions.

Concerns About Reglan®

A number of potentially serious side-effects may develop after taking Reglan®, including Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome - a potentially fatal condition that may result in damage to the kidneys, muscle-rigidity, delirium, fever, unstable blood-pressure, and coma.

Tardive dyskinesia - a neurological condition - has been described in a number of patients that have taken Reglan® for gastroesophageal reflux. The serious symptoms of Tardive dyskinesia may include fast and uncontrollable movement in the arms and legs; uncontrolled grimacing; excessive and fast blinking of the eyes; and protrusion of the tongue.

Significantly, the side effects that are associated with Tardive dyskinesia may remain long after the completion of the course of treatment with Reglan®.

In February 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a document concerning Reglan®, which "warned against the long-term use of drugs that contain Reglan (metoclopramide)."

The FDA advised that:

"Metoclopramide is approved for the short-term (no longer than 3 months) treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in people who haven’t responded to other treatments, and to treat diabetic gastroparesis (slowed emptying of the stomach’s contents into the intestines).

"The drug is available in a variety of formulations including tablets, syrups, and injections. Names of metoclopramide-containing products include Reglan Tablets, Reglan Oral Disintegrating Tablets, Metoclopramide Oral Solution, and Reglan Injection.

"Adverse events: Frequent and long-term use of metoclopramide has been linked to tardive dyskinesia, a disorder that causes uncontrollable, repetitive movements of the body such as lip smacking, grimacing, tongue protrusion,  puckering and pursing of the lips, rapid eye movements or blinking, and rapid movements of the fingers, arms, legs, and trunk.

"People at risk: Those at greatest risk include elderly people, especially older women, and people who have been on the drug for a long time.

"Recommendations: Talk to your doctor before you use metoclopramide.

"Avoid using the drug for a long time in all but rare cases where you and your doctor decide that the benefits outweigh the risks.

"FDA actions: FDA is requiring that the drug label carry a boxed warning about the risks of using metoclopramide for a long time or at a high dose.

"Manufacturers must ensure that patients are given a medication guide that discusses the risks of the drug each time they receive this medication from a pharmacy."

Helping You With Your Reglan® Class Actions

If you or a loved one has suffered from serious, life-threatening conditions that may have resulted from the use of Reglan®, contact DrugRxRecall immediately.

We will be pleased to refer you to a skilled and experienced lawyer who can offer you a free consultation, information on class actions, and advice on potential claims for accidents, injuries and deaths that may have been caused by the side-effects of Reglan®.

Mass Tort vs.Class Action:What is the Difference?

You may find this website because you put “class action” into your search engine, along with a drug name, such as “Reglan® Class Action”.

You might think “class actions” are the way most cases are handled by law firms dealing with prescription drugs and medical devices that harm people and that is why we use that term here to help you locate us on the internet. However, actually this is not precisely the case in many instances. Most pharmaceutical drug claims and medical device injuries are handled as “mass torts.” We discuss below in detail some of the reasons for this.

You probably did not put “mass tort” into the search engine as the term “mass tort” is far less well known legal term in the public generally. Therefore, we make sure to help you find us by discussing class actions frequently and explain the difference between class actions and mass torts here. Mass torts and class actions share some similarities, primarily the fact that many people were injured and are seeking remedies for their injuries.

Class Action

A class action is a type of legal proceeding where a lawsuit is filed on behalf of a group of people who share a set of circumstances, harms, injuries, sufferings, or potential damages.Class actions are designed to help promote “judicial economy” and decrease pressure on courts when large numbers of people suffer a harm in the same manner.

For example, class actions are sometimes used in the context of when a bank or large corporation charges fees that are determined unfair to a large number of clients.In those instances, one harmed person may stand as the single claim that determines the outcome for the entire class of claimants.Often the recovery is not good for the class of harmed individuals as a whole.

Typically a class action has several criteria that must be met.The individuals in the class must be notified of the claim and given a chance to “opt in” or “opt out” of the class, or find lawyers of their own.Prior to the actual class action lawsuit, a motion is filed in court that certifies a particular plaintiff as the acting party on behalf of the larger group or class of plaintiffs.

One of the factors looked at is whether the individual recoveries for each plaintiff are too low to warrant each plaintiff hiring their own attorney;when this is present a class action may be certified as the best way to proceed.For example, this is often the case when dealing with small bank fees.

The representative plaintiff also shows that he or she is typical in that his or her experience with the company or product is typical of the experiences of the other similarly situated plaintiffs, and that this type of class action lawsuit is the most efficient for holding the defendants accountable.The evidence against the defendants must be typical and represented in a similar manner by all the harmed individuals, and finally, a showing that individual lawsuits against the defendant would never be prudent nor efficient in time and money is part of the process of determining that a class action is the best way to proceed. It is easy to see that the often massive and very different injuries sustained by people who take prescription drugs do not fit this mold for “class actions.”

Mass Tort Lawsuits

Mass torts are different from class actions despite the fact that they are related in the sense that both share a large group of people who have suffered harms.

Mass tort claims, like class actions, try to reduce the number of court claims in the legal system and promote judicial economy and efficiency.However, they cover a much broader range of subjects typically than class actions and they are handled differently.

Perhaps the simplest way to understand the difference is mass torts still involve each plaintiff having their own individual claim.

There is no “representative plaintiff” in mass tort claims.The mass tort plaintiffs are each receiving their own legal process and individual remedy tailored to their particular circumstances.

Mass tort claims are the most common way that consumers are provided legal remedies when they are injured on a large scale by defective drugs or defective products.While drugs and defective medical devices, for example, injure large groups of people, the injuries are often very different among each plaintiff. All cases in drug defect claims rarely fit neatly into a single class of individuals who share the exact same type of injury.

Mass tort litigation allows one attorney or a group of attorneys to represent several injured parties in individual cases.The attorneys often share information to help each other and their clients proceed against the defendants in a more powerful manner as a result of the cooperation of the plaintiffs’ attorneys.Attorneys all over the country, and in fact sometimes internationally, pool resources, research, information, time, financial resources, and their intellectual energy and ideas to make sure that all of the plaintiffs hopefully obtain some measure of justice.

Mass tort claims are often complicated with detailed litigation and numerous plaintiffs and defendants.Sometimes experts are used just to determine the proper way to award damages to the various parties.

DrugRxRecall and The Mulligan Law Firm are here to listen to your potential mass tort claim and hopefully help as many people as possible find justice.Please contact us today if you or a loved one have an injury of any type discussed on this website. If you have been injured by a drug such as Reglan, or its generic forms, we would like to talk to you as soon as possible to help determine the best possible way to attempt to help you obtain justice.