Suboxone Statute of Limitations deadline is June 2024 and attorneys predict a surge of Suboxone tooth decay lawsuits.
Santa Clara, CAJune 2024 marks the two-year anniversary of Suboxone’s statute of limitations deadlines and lawyers predict thousands more Suboxone tooth decay lawsuits will be filed against Indivior Inc., mainly failure to warn about the risk of dental injuries. It is crucial to file a lawsuit against Indivior or other defendants before the statute of limitations passes. If not, plaintiffs may be unable to proceed with a case.
Suboxone is a buprenorphine medication used for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD). After FDA approval and exclusive market access in 2002, Indivior dominated the medication-assisted treatment (MAT) market. Also in 2022, the FDA warned the public about dental problems with buprenorphine medicines dissolved in the mouth to treat opioid use disorder and pain. The warning came on the heels of adverse event reports (AERs) the agency had received through its MedWatch portal. Even with the warning, Indivior hesitated to revise its safety label until six months later when FDA mandated a label update. In fact, the FDA had almost 20 years of Suboxone user reports along with clinical research definitively proving the drug’s potential to cause dental issues.
Statute Of Limitations
For most states, the Suboxone statute of limitations clock began ticking in 2022 – when Indivior added a warning to its product, stating that Suboxone causes tooth decay (which is like handing to a lawyer a lawsuit on a silver platter). Some Suboxone lawyers, however, are only taking new cases where you have three years to start a lawsuit.
The statutes of limitation for defective drug lawsuits typically start on the date of an injury or diagnosis of a condition. But in the Suboxone litigation, many users suffered from dental issues before they were prescribed Suboxone, which catalyzed rather than caused further complications.
All civil cases in the U.S. have a statute of limitations (SOL) for personal injury cases that limits the amount of time people have to file a case. For instance, if the statute of limitations is two years from the time of injury or the discovery of injury, plaintiffs have two years to file a lawsuit against Indivior and other manufacturers for negligence before they’re unable to recover compensation.
But there are exceptions to the rule, such as:
When the victim is a minor at the time of the injury and must be 18 or older to file a lawsuit
When the plaintiff suffers from a disability preventing him or her from building a case
The downside of missing the SOL is that the courts may decide to dismiss the case. And even if plaintiffs may be able to proceed with a case after reaching SOL, defendants could argue that too much time has passed and attempt to dismiss the case.
Other Suboxone Lawsuit Considerations
The discovery rule is also taken into consideration to determine the SOL. This rule establishes that the time limit won’t begin until the plaintiff discovers that he or she has sustained an injury and is aware that the injury resulted from negligence.
Also crucial to support a case is to provide medical records. It is imperative that you include qualifying prescription dates, proof of medical and dental complications, and eligibility under relevant statutes of limitation.
If possible, provide copies of prescriptions for Suboxone that you received prior to 2022 when Indivior began warning of Suboxone risks. It also helps your case to obtain other evidence, such as proof of lost income resulting from recovery or treatment that prevented you from returning to work. And record all pain and suffering related to your health issues, including psychological issues such as anxiety or depression, embarrassment and withdrawal from society – these serious dental problems have turned people’s lives upside down.
One attorney wrote online that “ It is essential that plaintiffs do not file …with spurious factual claims, limited exposure to sublingual Suboxone or minimal dental injuries. A bad case could be scooped up by Indivior’s counsel as a potential bellwether case.” Important point.
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