Davis family’s drug suit part of class action — (RRSTAR.com)

A lawsuit pending in Rockford’s federal court against drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline has been transferred temporarily to join the Multidistrict Litigation class-action lawsuit in California.

Rockford attorney Susan Brazas, who represents the Simon Krischak family of Davis in their wrongful-death lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company, said the case will join thousands of others like it in the U.S. Central District of California for several months as members of the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee, appointed by a California judge to manage the suit, review the facts of each case.

The purpose of the MDL, as they call it, is to eliminate duplication of efforts, avoid conflicting rulings, and promote a just and efficient prosecution of all cases.

Erna Krischak filed the lawsuit a year ago on behalf of her 77-year-old husband, Simon, who committed suicide in November 2001. Krischak’s lawsuit says Simon suffered severe withdrawal reactions from the antidepressant Paxil that resulted in him taking his own life, and the family never was warned of such withdrawal reactions.

GlaxoSmithKline denies any responsibility in the suicide deaths.