Fortitude Law Take on Seroxat Cases in UK

The Seroxat group action has been running for almost 10 years now. GSK have, for whatever reason, refused to make any kind of settlement to the 107 claimants who have alleged that they suffered severe withdrawal at the hands of Seroxat and, more importantly, were not warned about this dependency problem.

In 2010 the group action came to a grinding halt. A legal battle, behind the scenes, was unfolding and claimants, of which I am one, had their public funding withdrawn. This is quite common in UK action against pharmaceutical companies.

Sufficed to say, the group action was put on hold (stayed) whilst the legal wrangles were ironed out.

Good news is, we now have new representation.

Fortitude Law, a law firm based in London, are now representing the UK claimants and are set to return to the High Court to confront GlaxoSmithKline and show them evidence that Seroxat caused these withdrawal reactions to the claimants. I assume it will be the same evidence that US courts were shown back in 2002 when 3,000 or so claimants alleged that Seroxat caused them dependency. Glaxo resolved that case yet refuse to do the same in the UK.

The Fortitude Law website has now gone live and they have a contact form on there for people wishing to ask questions about the current group action.

Fortitude Law can be found here.



Bob Fiddaman.

UK SEROXAT LITIGATION - CURRENT STATUS

20 January 2012 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


An article, written by Katy Dowell, appeared on thelawyer.com on January 9 2012 that made reference to the current UK Seroxat litigation. Because of legalities I cannot discuss certain aspects of proceedings as they are at a delicate stage at this moment in time.

I can, however, state that the article is based on supposition and, is in fact, wrong.

Katy Dowell writes that a source [lawyer] close to the case informed her that legal aid has been withdrawn from the case. This is untrue.

The public funding certificate [previously known as legal aid] has never been removed from this case.

In October, 2010 the solicitors in charge of the case considered there was insufficient evidence to proceed and advised the litigants to discontinue their claims. Approximately two thirds of the litigants followed this advice. I, along with others, decided to continue the case, despite being told that we may be liable for costs.

A meeting with the Legal Services Commission's Special Committee Review Panel was convened and a barrister and claimant in the Seroxat litigation, along with myself and others, presented evidence as to why we felt the funding should be continued. At no point was the funding discontinued, the meeting with the Legal Services Comission was to decide whether or not it should be.

The Legal Services Commission's Committee considered there was merit in the case, increased the given assessment of prospects of success and agreed that a full review of the evidence should occur.

We are now at the stage where we have presented the Legal Services Commission with evidences to extend further the funding for the Seroxat litigation and we are currently awaiting their decision.

The Seroxat Users’ Group will keep litigants updated and can also be contacted via email janice@seroxatusergroup.org.uk

It would be unethical of me at this stage to comment further on matters related to the Seroxat litigation. I have already been contacted by the media and have told them that I cannot comment. My stance still remains the same.

A statement will appear on the Seroxat User Group page in due course.

The editor of The Lawyer has been contacted but, as yet, has not responded.