Federal Judge Presses Manufacturers of Yaz and Yasmin to Settle Lawsuits

Bayer, the manufacturer of the contraceptive drugs Yaz and Yasmin, have made little effort to the plaintiffs whose claims remain in lawsuits against it in federal court. However, in an attempt to move the process along, Federal Judge David Herndon issued a case management order in February.

First, a little background into Yaz and Yasmin. Both are birth control pills that contain drospirenone. which has been found to cause dangerous side effects in some women who use them. These side effects include excessive blood clotting, lung embolisms and death. A U.S. study of over 800,000 women who took Yasmin or Yaz found the risk of blood clots is three times higher than other contraceptive pills. There is also a large number of women who now have gall bladder disease as an undisclosed side effect of Yaz and Yasmin.

As a procedural move to thwart the prosecution of pending Yaz and Yasmin cases, Bayer has refused to waive venue requirements in order to prevent the trial court from beginning the bellwether process to select trials in the MDL. At this point, more than 12,000 MDL claims have been centralized in the Southern District of Illinois. Most of the cases involve arterial thrombotic event injuries or patent forman ovale injuries.

In order to break the logjam, Judge Herndon targeted 33 Yasmin and Yaz cases to be selected for early bellwether trials. These could begin as early as May of this year. As a result, the delays that have prevented resolution of these remaining Yaz and Yasmin cases may finally have ended. The litigation will finally be able to proceed.

If you or a loved one has been harmed by the use of Yasmin or Yaz – or any other pharmaceutical drug – please contact Jacoby & Meyers to schedule your free case evaluation. We have the attorneys experienced to handle pharmaceutical litigation.

Toni Zeller Kohlbeck, student intern Jacoby & Meyers