Outbreak Judge OKS $6.2 Million in Legal Fees

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Boston, Mass. - A federal judge said today that she will approve a request to pay $6.2 million in fees and expenses for attorneys who worked on a massive civil case stemming from the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
The payment from a so-called common benefit fund will go to lawyers representing victims of the deadly outbreak which sickened 778 patients, killing 76 of them.
U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel said she would approve the request during a one hour status conference today in her fifth floor courtroom.
During the same session a report was issued showing that a little over $136.6  million has been distributed to victims of the outbreak or their survivors from a trust fund. The fund was created under the bankruptcy of the company blamed for the outbreak. The New England Compounding Center shipped contaminated steroids to health providers across the country.
The $6.2 million Zobel promised to approve is the second and final installment on the payment of some $12.4 million in legal fees and expenses.
In a separate but related matter, Ben Gastel, a Nashville, Tenn. attorney, told Zobel payments from a separate fund have gone to 107 of 114 victims who were injected with fungus laden steroids at the Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgical Center, also in Nashville.
Details of the Saint Thomas settlement have been filed under seal but Zobel did say she will approve fees of $26,300 from that settlement to a firm hired to administer the fund and issue checks.
Though status reports in the multi-district litigation have been held on monthly basis, Zobel set the next hearing for Dec. 19.
"You are coming to the end of this matter," Zobel said, noting that most of the issues in the litigation have been resolved.