Dozens of Yaz/Yasmin Injury Lawsuits to be Consolidated in Illinois

More than thirty lawsuits filed on behalf of women who were injured or killed by the popular birth control drugs Yaz and Yasmin will be consolidated into a multidistrict litigation group in the Southern District of Illinois, a federal judicial panel has ruled.

A total of 32 federal lawsuits have been filed against Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc., the maker of Yaz and Yasmin. The two contraceptives use different doses of the same hormone, drospirenone, which has been linked to increased levels of potassium in the blood and scores of user deaths and serious injuries.

From 2004 to 2008, there were at least 50 deaths in the United States associated with the use of Yaz, the Food and Drug Administration has said. Women taking the drug have reported suffering heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis and other types of blood clotting, and gallbladder disease, among other serious injuries.

The two drugs are primarily used to prevent pregnancy, but also are approved to treat a condition called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and moderate to severe acne.

Yaz Lawsuits Consolidated in Illinois Federal Court

On October 1, a federal court panel which decides whether to consolidate lawsuits filed in jurisdictions across the country into groups for pre-trial proceedings decided the all Yaz and Yasmin cases will be assigned to a single Illinois federal courtroom presided over by Judge David R. Herndon.

“On the basis of the papers filed and hearing session held, we find that these 32 actions involve common questions of fact, and that centralization under Section 1407 in the Southern District of Illinois will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation,” the panel said in announcing the consolidation. “We are persuaded that the Southern District of Illinois is an appropriate forum for this docket.”

Plaintiff’s attorneys had asked for the lawsuits to be consolidated in various other jurisdictions, including the District of Colorado, Southern District of Illinois, Eastern District of New York, Northern District of Ohio, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and the Eastern District of Texas.

Bayer had supported consolidating the lawsuits in the Northern District of Ohio.

The cases now consolidated for pre-trial motions come from federal jurisdictions from coast to coast. They include 14 cases from the Northern District of Ohio, six from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, five from the Northern District of California, two from the Southern District of Ohio, and one each from the Eastern District of California, Northern District of Georgia, Eastern District of New York, District of Puerto Rico and the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

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