The first trial for a Fixodent lawsuit in the federal denture cream litigation has been pushed back a couple of weeks and will begin on June 20, according to a recent court order.
U.S. District Court Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga issued an order on April 13, scheduling a new trial date in the case of Chapman v. Procter and Gamble, which is set to be the first of several hundred lawsuits that will be presented to a jury involving allegations that a denture wearer developed permanent neurological damage from zinc contained in their denture adhesive. The Fixodent trial was originally scheduled to begin on June 6.
The delay comes after plaintiffs and defendants involved in the denture cream lawsuits asked Judge Altonaga to give them more time for the discovery phase of the litigation in December.
Each party has until April 22 to file motions to try to have any evidence excluded from the trial and there will be oral arguments to consider any pending Daubert motions on May 27.
The Fixodent suit was brought by Marianne and Daniel Chapman, of Florida, who claim that Procter and Gamble failed to warn consumers that their denture adhesive contained zinc, which can enter the body at high levels when the denture cream is used, leading to permanent injuries from zinc poisoning.
All federal lawsuits over zinc poisoning from Fixodent denture cream have been centralized before Judge Altnoaga in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida for pretrial litigation. Individual complaints filed by dozens of people throughout the United States have been consolidated to avoid duplicative discovery, inconsistent pretrial rulings from different judges and to serve the convenience of the court, the parties and the witnesses.
The complaints all contain similar allegations that Procter and Gamble, which manufactures Fixodent denture cream, and GlaxoSmithKline, which manufactures Super Poligrip denture cream, failed to warn consumers that their products contain zinc, which may enter the body at high levels when the denture cream is used. Plaintiffs allege that they suffered severe and permanent neurological damage from denture cream zinc poisoning.
In August 2010, GlaxoSmithKline reported that it has reached Super Poligrip settlement agreements in the vast majority of cases filed against them. Procter and Gamble has indicated they intend to fight the lawsuits.