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The judge who oversaw the latest Xarelto trial in Philadelphia is asking the parties to produce more information about a social media post using the hashtag “#killinnazis,” which defendants say revealed plaintiffs counsel had covertly attempted to link them to Nazi Germany during the trial.

In two one-page orders issued Monday afternoon, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Erdos asked defendants Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals to provide more legal authority about whether the social media posts can be added to the official record, and asked the plaintiffs to provide the name of the person who took a photo of the courtroom, which was later posted on Instagram with the hashtag “killinnazis.”

The social media posts came to light after the jury that presided over the trial awarded plaintiff Lynn Hartman $27.8 million over claims that the defendants failed to properly warn about the dangers of taking the blood-thinner Xarelto. The defendants are pointing to the posts as part of their effort to overturn the multimillion-dollar verdict, and have asked the court to allow them to include the posts in the official court record.

Bayer, which developed Xarelto, is based in Leverkusen, Germany. Its North American headquarters is in Whippany, New Jersey.

In post-trial motions filed last week, the defendants cited nine Instagram posts that each used the hashtag “#killinnazis.” The defendants said the posts came from accounts managed by three attorneys representing Hartman, including the two attorneys who tried the case, and contended that the posts were made in reference to the Xarelto trial. The defendants are contending that the posts, combined with allegedly “xenophobic” language the plaintiff's trial attorneys used during closing arguments, showed the plaintiffs intended to link Bayer to Nazis in the minds of the jury.

Late last week, plaintiffs counsel filed a reply motion saying the defendant's request to add the posts to the official court record was based on “hyperbole” and was “nothing more than a desperate attempt to create an appellate issue, to harass and intimidate, and to attempt to color the court's view of plaintiff's counsel prior to the filing of defendants' post-trial motions.”

Plaintiffs counsel also stressed in the motion that there was no evidence jurors were exposed to the posts, and said the comments made during closing arguments were proper, factual and were not intended to conjure up any connection with Nazis. The filing also said the hashtag stemmed from the 2009 Quentin Tarantino film ”Inglourious Basterds,” and is a popular hashtag on social media.

A spokesman for Bayer did not return a message seeking comment. Michael Weinkowitz of Levin Sedran & Berman, who is liaison counsel for the plaintiffs and is not alleged to have been involved in sending the Instgram posts, also did not return a message seeking comment.

William Foster, a spokesman for Janssen, said in an emailed statement, “We believe the posts made by plaintiff's counsel on social media are inappropriate, insensitive and similar to egregious statements they made during trial.”