Mass. Judge Rejects Stay, Orders Consolidation of Fungal Meningitis Lawsuits

BOSTON — A Massachusetts judge has denied a defense motion to stay about a dozen lawsuits alleging injury caused by contaminated steroid injections, opting instead to consolidate the cases so that similar procedural matters can be handled more efficiently.

In a Nov. 28 ruling, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV refused to put the cases on hold until early next year when a federal judiciary panel will decide whether to group them with dozens of similar claims filed nationwide in the wake of a recent fungal meningitis outbreak linked to the injections.

Judge Saylor’s ruling comes after New …