Corpus Christi, TX — The first Baycol case goes to trial as jury selection begins in Haltom v. Bayer Corp., No. 02-60165-2, in a Texas, state court. Bayer is the target of thousands of product liability suits that allege that Baycol caused debilitating muscle damage and, in approximately 100 instances, death. Plaintiff’s counsel, Mikal C. Watts of Watts Law Firm, L.L.P, is seeking more than $100 million in punitive damages. Watts represents 1,500 plaintiffs who are suing Bayer over Baycol.

Bayer is aggressively pursuing a claims-settlement policy, said the company’s chief outside counsel, Philip S. Beck of Chicago’s Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott. More than 900,000 people took Baycol, but only a small percentage experienced serious side effects, said Beck. “Some side effects are unavoidable,” he said.

Watts said, internal documents that he uncovered during pretrial discovery show that Bayer withheld from the Food and Drug Administration negative results of Baycol’s clinical trials. “This company knew this drug was going to kill people and they sold it anyway,” he said.

(via The National Law Journal)