Zostavax MDL Judge Allows Causation Opinion of Plaintiff’s Expert in Bellwether Case

PHILADELPHIA — The judge overseeing the Zostavax MDL docket has refused to exclude the general causation opinion of a bellwether plaintiff’s expert, Dr. Mark Poznansky, ruling that he properly relied on epidemiological evidence to demonstrate a causal connection between Zostavax and GBS.

However, in the Oct. 11 order, Judge Harvey Bartle III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania excluded that general and specific causation opinions of another expert, Dr. David Saperstein, ruling that he failed to rule out unknown causes for the plaintiff’s Guillian-Barré syndrome (GBS).

Joseph Bockus, then 50, received Zostavax on Aug. …