Archive for September, 2009

Yesterday the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in Richmond, Virginia heard arguments for and against establishing a multidistrict litigation (MDL) for all federal Yaz and Yasmin litigation. A ruling on the matter is expected within a few weeks.

If the panel of federal judges opts to establish an MDL, all Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits pending in various federal courts throughout the United States will be consolidated before one judge for coordinated pre-trial proceedings. This will benefit the plaintiffs in the Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits by allowing them to share the costs of pre-trial discovery and avoid duplicative discovery. For example, in an MDL, depositions of certain people can be taken just once, every plaintiff gets to use them, and the cost is split among everyone.

While an MDL and a class action lawsuit are sometimes confused with one another, they are not the same thing. A class action is one case with many plaintiffs in it, whereas an MDL consists of many individual cases brought together for a short time.

As litigants await a ruling on the Yaz and Yasmin MDL petition, lawsuits continue to mount against Bayer Pharmaseuticals, the maker of the popular birth control pills. The lawsuits generally allege that Yaz and Yasmin cause life-threatening side effects and that Bayer failed to adequately warn consumers about those side effects. Serious Yaz side effects and Yasmin side effects may include heart attacks, strokes, gallbladder disease, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and pulmonary embolism. Additionally, Yaz and Yasmin may both put patients at risk for a condition known as hyperkalemia. This condition is marked by increased potassium levels in the blood and often has no symptoms at all. If left untreated, it can lead to cardiac arrest and kidney failure.

If you or a loved one experienced serious side effects after taking Yaz or Yasmin, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. For more information about a Yaz lawsuit or a Yasmin lawsuit, contact one of Bernstein Liebhard’s Yasmin lawyers or Yaz lawyers for a confidential and free case evaluation.

Various lawsuits have been filed in state and federal courts around the country on behalf of women who used Yasmin or Yaz birth control and suffered a stroke, heart attack or gall bladder damage.    Yaz and Yasmin both contain a combination of ethinyl estradiol, which is used in many oral contraceptives, and drospirenone, a new type of progestin that is unique to Yaz and Yasmin.  Soon, a panel of federal judges is scheduled to hear arguments about whether to consolidate and centralize all Yasmin and Yaz litigation pending in various federal courts throughout the United States.

Most recently, a new lawsuit was filed in St. Clair County, Illinois over the birth control pill Yaz by a woman who claims the drug caused a blood clot in her lung, also known as a pulmonary embolism.
According to a local newspaper, the St. Clair record, Kerry Sims filed the The Yaz blood clot lawsuit on August 18, 2009.  The defendant in the Sims Yaz lawsuit is Bayer, which is the maker of both Yaz and Yasmin birth control pills.  Ms. Sims also sued Walgreens pharmacy, where she purchased the medication. Ms. Sims’ Yaz lawsuit alleges that Bayer misrepresented the benefits and safety of the birth control pill.  Her Yaz lawsuit further claims that she would not have used Yaz birth control had she been fully informed of the health risks.

Sims alleges that she began taking the Yaz birth control pill when it was known as Yasmin. Bayer reformulated the pill and renamed it Yaz after acquiring Yasmin’s original manufacturer, Berlex, in 2006. As a side effect of Yaz, Sims alleges that she suffered a pulminary embolism, which is a blood clot in her lung and an infection of the area surrounding the blood clot.

For more information about a Yaz lawsuit or a Yasmin lawsuit, contact one of Bernstein Liebhard’s Yasmin lawyers or Yaz lawyers for a confidential and free case evaluation.