The MDL is Finally Closing

The MDL is scheduled to "close" soon according to the clerk of the court for Judge Perry. "MDL" stands for Multi District Litigation, the class action suit against Showa Denko KK (SDKK). Over 200,000 documents were collected during the "Discovery Phase" between 1990 and 1992. NEMSN urgently needs money to file a motion to prevent destruction of these documents!

In May 2001, Mr. John Baker, principal attorney for the plaintiff steering committee, announced he planned to retire and close his office. The bulk of the MDL documents in the Denver depository were destined for shredding. NEMSN immediately contacted him and asked if the documents could be saved for research purposes. Attorney for NEMSN, Mark Choate, submitted a request to the Court asking if NEMSN could formally intervene and prevent shredding. Subsequently, Mr. Choate paid for storage and NEMSN searched for a permanent repository. Mr. Baker believes that none of the MDL money can be used for this purpose.

Mr. Baker’s maintains the "Work Product," 80 boxes of Japanese translations and other information, contains the most important documents. Approximately another 100 boxes are now in storage. These will also need to be examined to eliminate duplicates or irrelevant information.

Dr. Gerald Gleich, University of Utah School of Medicine, one of the most knowledgeable researchers on the l-tryptophan disaster has offered to take possession of them. Dr. Gleich, believes that there could be "missing clues" and important information in the documents: "Research is still needed regarding the cause and long term consequences of EMS in order that future outbreaks of this devastating disease can be prevented." In addition, there is justification for public policy and public health reasons. Currently new EMS onset cases are being diagnosed from other over-the-counter products including 5htp and Amino Fuel. Some cases have been recently reported from using prescription tryptophan.

NEMSN will be filing a motion in the near future. A significant issue centers on the original orders stipulating: "that discovery information which SDKK considered confidential be labeled "restricted" and would return to the defendant at the close of the litigation." According to Mr. Tom Rogers, another attorney and member of the steering committee: "SDKK essentially marked every page restricted." NEMSN will seek to abandon the original order restricting the use of the information in the MDL."

Dr. Gleich recently contacted Don Morgan, an attorney in the Cleary-Gottleib firm who represent SDKK and asked if they would object to a motion to retain the documents for research purposes and he replied that "SDKK would object."

The NEMSN board is firmly resolved: "it is in the interest of our members to file a motion as soon as possible." Mr. Rogers and Mr. Baker indicated the Plaintiffs Steering committee would file an Amices brief in support of our motion. This motion is likely to be the only outstanding issue to be resolved by the court

NEMSN needs help to raise $10,000 for the legal assistance. Please send a dedicated amount of money to NEMSN for the "MDL Depository Protection Fund" c/o Michael Bird, 219 Twinlakes Drive, Fredricksburg, VA 22401