A panel of federal judges will hear arguments later in September to determine whether all federal lawsuits against Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation over serious and potentially life threatening side effects of Yaz and Yasmin birth control should be centralized and consolidated in one district for coordinated handling as part of an MDL, or Multidistrict Litigation.
According to a notice recently issued by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, a hearing will be held on September 24 to consider whether the cases filed in various federal districts throughout the United States involve sufficiently common questions of fact and whether consolidation is appropriate.
The hearing was scheduled in response to a motion filed last month by a group of plaintiffs asking that the Yasmin and Yaz litigation be centralized and consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
There are at least 50 federal Yaz lawsuits or Yasmin lawsuits currently pending against Bayer, which all involve claims that the medications caused women to suffer injuries like heart attacks, strokes, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), gallbladder disease or sudden death.
In addition, it is expected that the number of claims will increase substantially in the coming months, as Yaz / Yasmin lawyers are currently investigating hundreds of other cases for women throughout the United States.
Yaz and Yasmin are different from other available birth control pills, as they contain drospirenone, which is a new type of progestin. Drospirenone is used in combination with ethinyl estradiol in the pills to prevent unwanted pregnancy, but it can also increase potassium levels and lead to hyperkalemia, which could increase the risk of various heart and other health problems. This is because Drospirenone has a diuretic action similar to Spironolactone, a potassium sparing diuretic.
The Yasmin and Yaz lawsuit complaints all contain similar allegations that Bayer failed to adequately research their products, fraudulently concealed the risk of injury, negligently failed to warn about the degree of risk women faced and misrepresented the safety of Yasmin and Yaz in comparison to other available birth control pills.
If the MDL Panel decides to consolidate the Yaz / Yasmin litigation, all of the cases filed in different federal districts throughout the country will be transferred to one court for pretrial litigation. Plaintiffs argue that this will help eliminate inconsistent rulings, avoid repeat discovery on issues common to all cases and serve the convenience of the parties, the witnesses and the courts.
Bayer also faces a number of similar lawsuits over Yas and Yasmin in state courts, which would not be included in any federal MDL that is formed.
Plaintiffs in four lawsuits recently filed in Philadelphia are seeking to have Pennsylvania state court cases also consolidated before one judge for similar mass tort treatment.
If you or a family member has been personally injured because of the fault of someone else: by the use of dangerous drugs, bad products, or toxic injury etc then please contact the Fort Worth Texas Defective Drugs Product Liability Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik. For a no obligation, free case analysis, please call 817-255-4001 or Contact Me Online.
The Dr. Shezad Malik Law is currently evaluating and accepting Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella Side Effect cases.