In-Person Status Conference Set for December in Zostavax MDL

PHILADELPHIA — Judge Harvey Bartle III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has scheduled an in-person status conference for Dec. 5 in the Zostavax MDL docket.

In July, the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of the majority of cases from the MDL docket, ruling the MDL court did not abuse its discretion in ordering the plaintiffs to produce tests determining that the shingles vaccine and not chickenpox caused them contract shingles.

The panel ruled that the MDL court’s Lone Pine order was based on uncontradicted record evidence that a polymerase chain …