No action since September 2010 in suit against Bayer over Trayslol

There has been no action since two of the attorneys for five plaintiffs suing Bayer Corp. and two of its pharmaceutical arms over the drug Trasylol filed to bow out of the suit last September.

No hearing date on the withdrawal motion has been set as yet in the suit filed by plaintiffs Don Juan Brown, Wayne Mosley, Jean Snyder, and Glendon Warner III who represents the estate of Glendon Warner Sr.

Plaintiffs' attorneys Christopher Cueto and Robert Salim filed to withdraw from the suit Sept. 9, 2010.

The plaintiffs sued Bayer Corp., Bayer Healthcare LLC, and Bayer Health Care Pharmaceuticals Inc. two years ago for damages in excess of $1.2 million and other relief.

They claim that Trasylol, a drug meant to reduce the need for blood transfusions for patients undergoing heart surgery instead caused renal damage and organ failure.

Bayer took the case to federal court twice.

Both times the case came back to St. Clair County.

The most recent remand order was entered by U.S. District Court Judge G. Patrick Murphy Jan. 13, 2010.

In the removal, Bayer had argued that the number of plaintiffs suing over Trasylol was large enough to meet the federal removal requirement if Murphy tallied the number of plaintiffs from four suits already on his docket which included four of the five Brown plaintiffs.

Those four cases were all filed Nov. 24 and Nov. 25, 2009.

The total number of plaintiffs encompassed by those suits totaled 171.

Federal courts require at least 100 plaintiffs per case as one possible condition for removal.

Murphy dismissed the argument and sent the case back to Belleville.

Cueto and Salim do not cite any specific reasons for their withdrawal from the suit.

John Driscoll, according to the motion, was set to remain as plaintiffs' counsel.

Terry Luekenhoff, Katherine Fowler, Michael Donelson and Eugene Schoon represent the Bayer defendants.

St. Clair County Circuit Judge Robert LeChien took over the case upon the retirement of St. Clair County Circuit Judge Michael O'Malley.

The case is St. Clair case number 09-L-439.