Opinion ID: 2824557
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Three Sets of Cases

Text: Five distinct groups of plaintiffs filed suit in Superior Court for the County of San Diego during the spring and summer of 2014. The five cases are Kreis, Kelly, Johnson, Briggs, and Martinez. The complaints alleged various tort claims against manufacturers and a distributor of incretin-based drugs, including Byetta, which is manufactured and promoted by Eli Lilly and Company and Amylin Pharmaceuticals, and Januvia and Janumet, which were developed by Merck. Plaintiffs in Kreis, Johnson, and Briggs have common counsel. Plaintiffs in Kelly -8- and Martinez have different common counsel. Each of the five cases has fewer than one hundred plaintiffs. When plaintiffs filed their five complaints in Superior Court in San Diego, a second set of cases involving incretin-based drugs was already pending in the Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles as a coordinated state proceeding under California Code of Civil Procedure section 404. Section 404 provides: Coordination of civil actions sharing a common question of fact or law is appropriate if one judge hearing all of the actions for all purposes in a selected site or sites will promote the ends of justice taking into account whether the common question of fact or law is predominating and significant to the litigation; the convenience of parties, witnesses, and counsel; the relative development of the actions and the work product of counsel; the efficient utilization of judicial facilities and manpower; the calendar of the courts; the disadvantages of duplicative and inconsistent rulings, orders, or judgments; and, the likelihood of settlement of the actions without further litigation should coordination be denied. Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 404.1. Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals initiated the state court coordinated proceeding in 2009 for the purpose of litigating claims that the drug Byetta causes pancreatitis. Judge Highberger of the Los Angeles Superior Court presides over the coordinated proceeding. We refer to the coordinated proceeding as the Byetta Judicial Council Coordinated Proceeding (“Byetta JCCP”). -9- The Byetta JCCP has been expanded to cover claims dealing with other incretin-based drugs, other injuries (including pancreatic cancer), and other drug companies (including Merck). An August 30, 2010 case management order, which expressly applies to later-filed add-on cases, states that the order “does not constitute a determination that these actions should be consolidated for trial.” In a June 17, 2014 status conference report, the Byetta JCCP plaintiffs stated that they “have said several times that a small group of bellwethers provide an extremely useful and practical backdrop and context for the many issues that will arise as the [cancer] cases progress, including the generic causation phase.” The Kreis plaintiffs conceded in their brief and at oral argument before us that they petitioned to join the Byetta JCCP in May 2014. The Kreis plaintiffs filed their add-on petition in state court one day after Merck removed the case to federal court for the first time. The Kreis plaintiffs’ add-on petition states that “[c]oordinated proceedings will promote the ends of justice by efficiently utilizing this State’s judicial resources, avoiding inconsistent rulings and promoting economy and efficiency for all parties, witnesses and counsel.” In a declaration attached to the petition, counsel for the Kreis plaintiffs stated that “[p]etitioners do not seek joint trials of any cases or plaintiffs, but rather, all claims shall be tried individually.” -10- Throughout most of this litigation, Merck has asserted that the Johnson plaintiffs also petitioned to join the Byetta JCCP. However, in a letter to this court sent just before oral argument, and again in oral argument, Merck acknowledged that the add-on petition in Johnson had also been filed by a defendant rather than by plaintiffs. (Merck further acknowledged at oral argument, contrary to its earlier assertions, that a second add-on petition in Kreis had been filed by a defendant rather than plaintiffs.) After the state court received the two add-on petitions filed by the defendants in Kreis and Johnson, it notified the parties that because the cases had been removed to federal court it could not process them. We infer that the state court sent the Kreis plaintiffs a similar notice in response to their add-on petition, though we do not have access to the state court record that would confirm that the state court did so. When plaintiffs filed their five complaints, a third set of incretin-related cases was pending as multi-district litigation (“MDL”) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, sitting in San Diego. District Judge Battaglia presides over the MDL. See In re Incretin Mimetics Prods. Liab. Litig., No. 3:13-md-02452-AJB-MDD (C.D. Cal.) (“MDL”). When plaintiffs’ five cases were removed to federal court from San Diego Superior Court, they were assigned to Judge Battaglia as related cases. Judge Battaglia in the MDL and Judge -11- Highberger in the Byetta JCCP have worked closely to coordinate their respective proceedings.