Landmark Decision Expected In Actos Trial

LAS VEGAS, June 1, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Las Vegas judge is set make a landmark decision, with billion dollar implications, in the nation's newest Actos trial Wednesday, June 3, 2015. Attorneys representing patients who suffered severe effects of bladder cancer, after using the diabetes drug Actos, will appear in a Las Vegas courtroom for the pivotal pre-trial hearing. The hearing will determine whether a jury decides, not the question of responsibility, but simply damages and how much.

"Takeda Pharmaceuticals already acknowledged they have no ability to rebut the presumption that the evidence they destroyed, on a massive scale, was damning," said attorney Robert Eglet. "To put it into perspective, they could have filled a football stadium with the amount of evidence they destroyed if it were printed on paper."

Attorneys representing the estate of one man who died from complications caused by bladder cancer, and another man suffering from recurring bladder cancer, will argue that in light of the defenses' inability to rebut the presumption that the evidence which was destroyed was unfavorable, the jury trial need only focus on the question of damages.

"Essentially Takeda's responsibility has already been determined, and by their own actions. When they illegally destroyed more than a million books worth of correspondence on hard drives they sealed their own fate," said attorney Eglet.

Judge Jerry Wiese will hear the arguments Wednesday in District Court before deciding  whether  to send the trial straight to the damages phase. The latest Actos trial, set for July 6^th, is one of many against Takeda Pharmaceuticals, a multi-billion dollar corporation headquartered in Japan.  Last year a Louisiana jury awarded a 9 Billion Dollar verdict in an Actos trial. In a different trial in Las Vegas last year, a jury did not find Takeda responsible for causing bladder cancer in two southern Nevada women. 

Attorneys from Eglet Prince and Kemp, Jones & Coulthard law firms represent the widow of Maurice J. Iorio who died from bladder cancer complications November 25, 2013 and George Decou who is suffering from bladder cancer

Currently, Takeda is looking to establish a settlement with an estimated 8 thousand plaintiffs across the country who believe Actos caused their bladder cancer, and that Takeda Pharmaceuticals hid its knowledge of the dangers associated with its drug Actos.

"It's important that our clients receive compensation from a jury," added Robert Eglet. "Without substantial punitive damages there is nothing to deter a company of this size from engaging in the same unconscionable, deadly practices again."

CONTACT: Tom Letizia, 702-545-8777, [email protected]; and Charlotte Evans, [email protected], 702-378-5758

SOURCE Eglet Prince