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BOSTON – Jury selection began Monday in the second wrongful death trial alleging Pfizer’s off-label promotion of its anti-epilepsy drug Neurontin caused a patient to commit suicide.

Hartley Shearer, 57, a Massachusetts resident, took Neurontin from October 2000 to February 2002 when he committed suicide, according to lead plaintiffs’ trial counsel Ronald Rosenkranz, a partner at Finkelstein & Partners, Newburgh, N.Y.

According to court documents, Shearer was prescribed Neurontin for treatment of his paralysis, but became depressed and suicidal after taking the drug.

About 1,200 lawsuits have been filed, alleging that Warner-Lambert, which was acquired by Pfizer in 2000, knew before the drug was introduced in 1993 that it increased the risk of suicide.

Although Neurontin was approved only as an anti-seizure medication, the drug company aggressively promoted a variety of non-approved uses, including pain control, the suits allege.

The federal lawsuits have been consolidated in U.S. District Court in Boston.

The first wrongful death trial ended bizarrely with a dismissal in July 2009, after an anonymous donor offered to put money in a trust fund for the 10-year-old daughter of a Susan Bulger, a 39-year-old Massachusetts woman who committed suicide after taking Neurontin.

Houston attorney Mark Lanier headed the plaintiffs’ trial team in the Bulger trial, and was expected to represent Shearer’s family. But in a change of plans, Lanier is not on the Boston trial team. He is still, however, scheduled to try the third Neurontin personal injury case, slated for trial in state court in Tennessee in May.

Opening arguments are expected Wednesday in the Shearer trial on Wednesday before Judge William G. Young. Rosenkranz is dividing plaintiffs’ trial team duties with Jack W. London, a solo attorney in Austin, Texas, and Kenneth B. Fromsom, a partner in Finkelstein & Partners.

While the Bulger was picked by Pfizer, the Shearer case was picked randomly, according to Rosenkranz.

The trial is expected to last about two and a half weeks.

Questions or comments can be directed to the writer at: nora.tooher@lawyersusaonline.com

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