Zantac Trial Schedule

Updated May 17, 2023

Trial Alert: The first Zantac trial is scheduled to begin on July 24, 2023 in Oakland, California before Hon. Judge Evelio Grillo, Superior Court of California, Alameda County, Complex Litigation Department 21. This is the first of four bellwether trials in the California Zantac JCCP. Zantac attorneys R. Brent Wisner of Wisner Baum and Jennifer Moore of Moore Law Group will serve as lead counsel at trial.

The makers of Zantac (ranitidine) are facing lawsuits in several state courts alleging the widely-used heartburn medication causes several types of cancer. Zantac drug manufacturers named in lawsuits include:

• GlaxoSmithKline
• Sanofi
• Pfizer
• Boehringer Ingelheim

Most Zantac lawsuits were consolidated in a federal multidistrict litigation (“MDL”) before U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida, the Honorable Robin L. Rosenberg. However, on December 6, 2022, Judge Rosenberg issued an opinion that Zantac lawyers representing some 50,000 plaintiffs failed to provide credible scientific evidence that Zantac causes cancer. Based on that conclusion, Judge Rosenberg granted the drug makers’ request for summary judgment. Plaintiffs’ attorneys will appeal the ruling.

While the Zantac MDL is not currently a viable option for plaintiffs alleging Zantac causes cancer, Zantac lawsuits continue in state courts. Judge Rosenberg’s ruling in the federal MDL will not directly affect the state court cases.

• California
• Illinois
• Delaware

Cases in California state court are part of the “Ranitidine Product Cases” Judicial Council Coordinated Proceedings (“JCCP”) 5150. The Honorable Evelio Grillo for the Superior Court of Alameda is the judge overseeing the Ranitidine Products Cases JCCP 5150 (also known simply as the California Zantac JCCP, captioned In Re: Ranitidine Product Cases, JCCP No. 5150).

Wisner Baum Zantac attorney R. Brent Wisner serves on the California state court litigation leadership as one of two plaintiffs’ liaisons. After the ruling in the Zantac MDL, Wisner expressed confidence in his experts in the California Zantac JCCP, where he will serve as co-lead counsel for the first Zantac trial in 2023.

“I learned early on that the direction of this MDL was not looking out for the best interests of the victims,” he told the media following Judge Rosenberg’s ruling. “I am glad my firm realized this and focused on filing in state court.”

In May of 2023, the Honorable Judge Vivian L. Medinilla issued a Case Management Order that applies to all Zantac (generic: ranitidine) cancer cases currently pending in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware. In the order, Judge Medinilla named attorneys R. Brent Wisner of Wisner Baum, Jennifer Moore of Moore Law Group, Raeann Warner of Jacobs & Crumplar, and Justin Parafinczuk of Parafinczuk Wolf to the plaintiffs’ leadership for over 77,000 Zantac cases pending in Delaware State Court. Wisner and his colleagues in the leadership will be responsible for presenting the plaintiffs’ position in all pretrial matters, initiating and coordinating pretrial discovery, and more.

Zantac Lawsuit California State Court

July 24, 2023 – Jury selection in Goetz v. GlaxoSmithKline, LLC will begin. This will be the first Zantac bellwether trial in the country. A bellwether trial is essentially a test case in a mass tort litigation that sets a precedent for the hundreds or thousands of cases making the same or similar allegations. The first bellwether trial will be a good indicator for out-of-court settlement resolutions. If the plaintiffs win a jury verdict, it generally increases the likelihood that cases will end in Zantac settlement agreements.

March 23, 2023 – Judge Evelio M. Grillo issued a 63-page order in James Goetz v. GlaxoSmithKline (Case No. RG20061705) that allows nearly all of Mr. Goetz’s expert witnesses to testify at trial, a decision that signals significant litigation on the horizon for GSK. Mr. Goetz’s case is one of thousands, and with the order, his case will head to trial in July.

March 2, 2023 – The continuation of the Sargon hearing will take place on March 2. This will be the third day of this expert hearing.

February 23, 2023 – The Court continued the hearing on Sargon today. At the conclusion, it was announced that jury selection in the first Zantac trial in California State Court will begin on July 24, 2023. Judge Evelio Grillo is currently considering what expert testimony will be allowed during trial in the case of James Goetz v. GlaxoSmithKline, LLC. Mr. Goetz alleges in his Zantac lawsuit that he developed bladder cancer after taking the drug. His case is the first “bellwether” case, an early test of how Zantac cancer lawsuits will fare in state courts.

February 16, 2023 – The Court held a hearing on Sargon, which allows the legal teams for the plaintiffs and the defendants to present their expert witnesses and educate the court on the science that underpins their arguments.

After carefully considering the expert opinions, Judge Grillo will decide whether the experts used sound logic and valid methodologies to arrive at their scientific opinions. If Judge Grillo determines that the experts used valid methodologies, then Zantac cases in the JCCP can proceed to trial and the experts will be allowed to provide evidence and testimony on whether Zantac causes cancer, and whether that propensity for inducing cancer caused a particular Zantac user to develop cancer.

If plaintiffs’ experts pass muster in Sargon, the first bellwether trial will begin.

Zantac Lawsuit Delaware State Court

Judge Medinilla for the Superior Court of Delaware issued a Case Management Order outlining important upcoming dates in the Delaware Zantac litigation:

May and June 2023: The process for selecting bellwether discovery plaintiffs begins.

July 17, 2023: Plaintiffs’ deadline to serve expert reports on the issue of general causation for the cancer types in the Delaware litigation.

September 18, 2023: Plaintiffs deadline to serve any rebuttal expert reports on the issue of general causation for the cancer types in the Delaware litigation.

October 25, 2023: Plaintiffs shall complete depositions of Defendants’ general causation experts.

November 1, 2023: Both parties shall file Daubert motions relating to general causation experts.

December 6, 2023: Both parties shall file oppositions to Daubert motions relating to general causation experts.

December 22, 2023: Both parties shall file reply briefs in support of their Daubert motions relating to general causation experts.

Daubert motions will take place between January 15 and January 31, 2024.

Zantac Lawsuit Illinois State Court

A Zantac case Illinois state court resolved before trial in August of 2022. Parties in the case agreed to a Zantac settlement agreement roughly a week before trial.

When is the First Zantac Trial?

The first Zantac trial in the California JCCP is scheduled for July 24, 2023. The case is James Goetz v. GlaxoSmithKline, LLC. This will be the first Zantac case in the country to go before a jury.

Wisner Baum Zantac Lawyers

Zantac attorneys from the national law firm of Wisner Baum represent thousands of people from across the nation diagnosed with bladder cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and many other forms of cancer. Our firm believes this litigation will eventually include hundreds of thousands of plaintiffs and “dwarf” what the firm helped achieve in the Monsanto Roundup litigation.

If you were diagnosed with cancer after taking Zantac, you may be eligible to pursue compensation in a Zantac lawsuit. To learn more about your legal rights, please call (855) 948-5098 or fill out our contact form to start the free case evaluation process.