Citing ‘Critical Mass’ of Lipitor Diabetes Lawsuits, Plaintiffs Renew Bid to Consolidate Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A plaintiff in one of 62 pending lawsuits alleging a link between Lipitor and diabetes has for a second time asked a federal judicial panel to consolidate all of the cases before a single federal judge.

The Oct. 10 request follows an unsuccessful bid to create a Lipitor multidistrict litigation docket two months ago, when the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation rejected a similar request based on the limited number of involved actions and overlap among counsel.

However, since the JPML denied the motion and urged the parties to informally coordinate the cases, the Lipitor litigation has …