A woman from Tennessee has filed a Levaquin lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, alleging that side effects of the popular antibiotic drug caused her to suffer a serious and irreversible form of nerve damage, known as peripheral neuropathy. The product liability lawsuit was filed by Wendy Garland in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on December 12, and names as defendants Johnson & Johnson, its Janssen Pharmaceuticals subsidiary, and McKesson Corp., which distributed the potentially dangerous antibiotic drug. If you used Levaquin in the past, and you have since been diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, contact a reputable Levaquin attorney today to discuss your options for legal recourse.
In her Levaquin complaint, Garland alleges that she developed peripheral neuropathy side effects from Levaquin after she began using the antibiotic medication as directed by her physician in December 2013. The painful and potentially permanent disease affects the peripheral nervous system, resulting in debilitating symptoms like impaired sensitivity to light touches, motion or temperature; numbness, burning and tingling in the extremities; lightheadedness, muscle weakness and other serious problems. As the lawsuit states, “As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ willful, wanton, careless, reckless, conscious, and deliberate disregard for the rights and safety of the consumers, Plaintiff suffered severe and permanent physical and emotional injuries, including, but not limited to, irreversible peripheral neuropathy.”
Garland’s peripheral neuropathy lawsuit joins a growing number of complaints filed in courts across the country over debilitating nerve damage injuries allegedly associated with the use of Levaquin and similar antibiotic drugs, like Avelox. Levaquin and Avelox belong to a class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones, and all of the product liability lawsuits allege that the makers of these controversial medications knew for years about their potential for causing permanent nerve damage, but failed to provide consumers and the medical community with adequate warnings about these risks, until the FDA forced the manufacturing companies to update their drug labels in August 2013.
In a drug safety community issued last year by the FDA, the agency announced that it was requiring the makers of Levaquin and other fluoroquinolone antibiotics to change their warning labels to include the risk that peripheral neuropathy symptoms may continue for months or even years after use of the antibiotic drugs is discontinued. While previous warnings had suggested that nerve damage from Levaquin and similar medications was rare and often resolved once the medication was no longer used, new information suggests that these complications may be far more common than originally believed, and may result in permanent nerve damage that can last the rest of the user’s life.
As a result of her peripheral neuropathy side effects, Garland is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson for failure to warn, strict liability, breach of warranty, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, fraud and fraudulent concealment. If you believe you have been adversely affected by side effects of Levaquin, such as irreversible nerve damage, our consumer advocates at the Consumer Justice Foundation can help. We are dedicated to protecting the rights of consumers harmed by potentially dangerous medications, and can help put you in touch with a knowledgeable attorney who has experience handling Levaquin peripheral neuropathy claims.
