A scene from "Paxil Payback"
National consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen is targeting potential claimants in a $63 million Madison County Paxil class action settlement via YouTube -- a video sharing website where users upload, view, and share video clips.
An article in today's National Law Journal, starts: "You could call it a marriage of law and pop culture."
A 91-second video created by Public Citizen tells viewers there is a $48 million pool of money available for under-18 users of the anti-depressant drug made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
Last October GSK agreed to allocate $63.8 million and any obligations it may otherwise have to settle a class action case brought by attorney Stephen Tillery.
Tillery stands to reel in a whopping $16.8 million award in attorneys' fees.
Class members can get $100 each, if they file a claim by Aug. 31.
The lead plaintiffs in Tillery's class action case, Teri Hoormann, Mary Kopsie, and Bonita and Mark Helfer, alleged they suffered actual economic damages because GSK promoted Paxil and Paxil CR for prescription to patients under the age of 18, while concealing negative information.
According to the National Law Journal article, Tillery is "open to any concept that helps get the word out about the settlement."
"If YouTube accomplishes that purpose, then so much the better," Tillery is quoted. "That's great. I'm all in favor of getting the notice out in any means we can."
An attorney for GSK, Dwight Davis of Atlanta, said he had "no problem with the video, so long as it didn't imply any wrongdoing by his clients," the article stated.
"This is a free country and they're certainly free to do something like this," Davis said in the article. But, he added, "if they're suggesting that this child [in the video] is wandering around in a fog because they used Paxil, then we may very well have something to say about that, because that's misleading."
Public Citizen, founded by Ralph Nader in 1971, was involved in reaching the final settlement in October, according to the National Law Journal article.