In Avandia Case, Motion Hearing Delayed as Attorneys Huddle With Judge

By Shannon P. Duffy
U.S. Courthouse Correspondent

Global settlement talks just might be underway in the massive federal multi-district litigation of thousands of products liability suits filed by diabetics who took the drug Avandia, but for now the lawyers are saying nothing.

On Monday, a team of defense lawyers for GlaxoSmithKline and the lead plaintiffs lawyers in the MDL assembled in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe for a final round of pretrial hearings.

Rufe was expected to hear arguments about how to conduct the first “bellwether” trial, and court records show that the lawyers were arguing over whether to empanel an “advisory” jury that would focus only on causation.

But those hearings never took place.

Instead, throughout the morning and most of the afternoon, a sizable group of spectators waited in the courtroom for the hearings to begin only to watch groups of lawyers shuttling back and forth between Rufe’s chambers and private conference rooms.

Rufe was on the bench only briefly for a few minutes in the morning and again at the end of the day when she announced that she was continuing the proceedings until next Monday.

GSK said earlier this month that it expects to record a legal charge of $3.4 billion for the fourth quarter of 2010, primarily related to Avandia. The company said the charge is related primarily to the investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado into the sales and promotional practices of Avandia, as well as Avandia products liability cases.