Zyprexa user claims Texas attorney gave bad advice

A St. Clair County woman says her Texas attorney gave her bad advice during her lawsuit against a drug company.

Loretta Roddy filed a lawsuit Oct. 12 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Patrick J. Mulligan, doing business as the Mulligan Law Firm LLC.

According to the complaint, Roddy took the schizophrenia medication, Zyprexa, and developed diabetes. She says she joined a class action lawsuit against the makers of the drug, Eli Lilly & Company, in Indiana and was represented by the Mulligan Law Firm.

After a settlement was proposed in that case for roughly $15,000 per plaintiff, Roddy says she was advised to accept the settlement. However, she chose not to accept it and, instead, filed her own claim against the Eli Lilly & Co. in federal court.

Roddy alleges she was never told by her attorney that in order to pursue her claim individually she would need to provide an expert witness to testify in federal court in New York that her ingestion of Zyprexa cause her to have diabetes. She claims she was never told by her lawyer that no expert testimony was available. Therefore, her case in New York District Court was dismissed.

Roddy accuses Mulligan and his law firm of negligence and asks for no more than $75,000 in damages for legal services and court costs.

Attorney Bernard J. Ysursa of Belleville is representing Roddy.

St. Clair County Circuit Court Case No. 11-L-577