Judges Prod Metabolife Parties to Settle Ephedra Suits

By William Murphy

Published on September 19, 2006

Most of the disagreement centers on the settlement of hundreds of personal injury lawsuits brought by plaintiffs who claim that Metabolife's ephedra-containing diet supplement Metabolife 356 caused serious injury and death. The San Diego company filed for bankruptcy in June 2005.

Seemingly frustrated with the lack of results after more than a year of negotiations, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Hargrove in San Diego and U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in New York have set dates for court action if the parties cannot resolve their differences.

Hargrove has set a hearing date of October 4 to decide if the case's Chapter 11 status should be changed to Chapter 7. Under Chapter 7, the bankruptcy committees that represent the various parties would be dissolved, and a federal trustee would take over the case.

Rakoff has set October 5 as the date to decide whether to lift the current stay on federal personal injury lawsuits against Metabolife retailers and the company's three shareholders.

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