As long as we are updating the status of some other bits of litigation at Merck today, let me mention this — it actually was reported end of last week.
Word is now out, at the official Fosamax MDL site, that Merck will allow Fosamax® ONJ claimants to opt in to the settlement, until the end of the day on April 30, 2014.
A full settlement terms packet should be at the site by late this week. From the site, then:
. . . .Lead [Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee] Counsel Tim O’Brien announced today that the Master Settlement Agreement forms have been finalized and will be posted within the next week. Also, MERCK HAS AGREED THAT ALL DEADLINES UNDER THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ARE EXTENDED BY 30 DAYS. Therefore, the deadline to put Fosamax [ONJ] clients into the settlement does not arise until April 30, 2014. Stay tuned to this message board for further updates, as well as the settlement forms and disclosure documents which will be posted next week (week ending Friday, March 14th). . . .
We will keep you posted, but Merck is getting a very fair bargain here, so no surprise that Whitehouse Station wants to draw in as many settling osteonecrosis of the jaw, or “jaw bone death” plaintiffs as it can.
New Merck, Reviewed 
Any progress on the Fosamax femur fracture cases filed in N.J.?
The femur cases — in the federal district court in Manhattan will continue as an MDL, under Judge John F. Keenan.
The state court cases, before Judge Carol Higbee, if memory serves, in the Atlantic County Superior Court of New Jersey, in Atlantic City, all continue — but if a claimant alleges only a femur fracture or other femur injury, those cases will be — or have been — transferred to Judge Joel Pisano in the federal District Court in Newark — as part of an MDL there. Next trial in those cases is slated for October 1, 2014 — but no name on it yet.
In addition, Judge Pisano entered an order in August 2013 requiring plaintiffs in the Fosamax Femur Fracture MDL to show cause why those cases asserting claims for a femur fracture injury that took place prior to September 14, 2010, should not be dismissed based on the court’s preemption decision in the Glynn case. Plaintiffs filed their responses to the show cause order at the end of September 2013 and Merck filed its reply to those responses at the end of October 2013. A hearing on the show cause order was held on January 29, 2014 and a final ruling from the court is pending.
As of December 31, 2013, approximately 2,655 cases alleging Femur Fractures have been filed in New Jersey state court and are pending before Judge Higbee in Atlantic County Superior Court. The parties selected an initial group of 30 cases to be reviewed through fact discovery. The first trial of the New Jersey state Femur Fracture cases, Su v. Merck, began in early March 2013, but a mistrial was declared later in March 2013 after the plaintiff suffered a serious medical issue unrelated to her use of Fosamax that prevented her from proceeding with the trial. The next trial, Unanski v. Merck, was set to be tried beginning in November 2013, but was continued and is now set for trial, potentially along with one or two other cases (Love v. Merck and Caravello v. Merck), beginning on March 17, 2014. An additional group of 50 cases to be reviewed through fact discovery was selected in November 2013.
As of December 31, 2013, approximately 510 cases alleging Femur Fractures have been filed in California state court. A petition was filed seeking to coordinate all Femur Fracture cases filed in California state court before a single judge in Orange County, California. The petition was granted and Judge Steven Perk is now presiding over the coordinated proceedings. In November 2013, the court ordered that fact discovery commence. The parties are expected to select the first round of cases to be included in a bellwether discovery pool in May 2014.