Five “John Does” who apparently fear potential criminal or civil charges have surfaced in pending federal lawsuits against the Massachusetts company blamed for a nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak that has taken the lives of 15 Tennessee patients.
Motions filed in U.S. District Court in Boston ask a federal judge to in effect order the indefinite preservation of potential evidence in dozens of pending suits against the New England Compounding Center, the company blamed for the outbreak.
Citing a recent notice from a federal prosecutor of an ongoing investigation that “could result in criminal, civil or administrative charges,” attorneys for the “John Does” have asked Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to reject a proposal from a bankruptcy trustee to abandon equipment leased by NECC.
Paul Shaw, the attorney for one of the “John Does,” said his client was concerned that the unspecified equipment could become relevant if that client is eventually charged in the case that has been pending before a grand jury for months.
He said the motion to abandon the NECC leases did not specify exactly what equipment was involved.
“It’s hard to even say what it is, but it could potentially be relevant,” Shaw said.
He said his client had received a notice from the U.S. Attorney informing him of a proposal to abandon the equipment leases and that the ongoing investigation “could result in criminal, civil or administrative charges.”
NECC, which has been blamed by state and federal regulators for the fungal meningitis outbreak, shipped tainted spinal steroids to dozens of health facilities across the country. The company was shut down last fall and filed for bankruptcy in December.
Dozens of victims and their survivors have filed suit against NECC, and nearly all of the suits, including several from Tennesssee, have been merged in the case before Judge Saylor.
In a second motion filed in behalf of four other “John Does,” attorney Michael Pineault said the notice from the U.S. Attorney “provided no information concerning the specific issues under investigation.”
Pineault’s motion said the lack of information from federal prosecutors made it impossible for him to specify exactly what equipment should be preserved.
Paul D. Moore, the bankruptcy trustee, and the person who proposed releasing the leased equipment to reduce expenses, said in an email response to questions that he had hoped the motion would be routinely approved.
“At this point, we are dealing with things like photocopiers and the like, which I would have hoped would not be controversial,” Moore wrote.
In the motion he filed on May 13, Moore said that returning the equipment to its owners would “maximize creditor recovery and minimize the costs and expenses to creditors associated with preserving any remaining probative evidence.”
A list attached to Moore’s motion includes equipment described as compounding modules and copying equipment.
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