Jonathan Denis
The allocation follows a bitter fee dispute where Merchant Law’s contingency fee agreement was found invalid
By Julius Melnitzer | September 24, 2026
The Alberta Court of King’s Bench has approved the distribution of a $7.5-million settlement in a national class action alleging that GlaxoSmithKline’s antidepressant Paxil caused birth defects in children whose mothers took it during pregnancy.
In two separate orders on Sept. 8 in Singh v. GlaxoSmithKline Inc., Justice Janice Ashcroft approved the settlement fund’s distribution and set the legal fees for a consortium of plaintiff-side firms. Both orders direct the claims administrator to use best efforts to complete payments by Nov. 6.
“There are no ‘winners’ in this case – many people suffered serious congenital birth defects as a result of the drug Paxil,” said Calgary-based Jonathan Denis of Guardian Law Group LLP, whose firm acted for several claimants. “While we are pleased with the outcome, we are hopeful that cases such as this provide an incentive for pharmaceutical manufacturers to take greater care in testing their products before they reach the market and avoiding other situations like this.”
Fiona Singh and her son, Muzaffar Hussain, brought MORE . . . .
Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based writer who focuses on law, legal affairs, and the business of law. Follow him on LegalWriter.net or email him at julius@legalwriter.net.