NuvaRing MDL (Multidistrict Litigation) Likely To Be In Eastern District Of Missouri

Judge Rodney Sippel Would Preside Over All Of The NuvaRing Lawsuits Filed In Federal Court System

August 2008 Update: NuvaRing MDL Created And Assigned To Judge Sippel

On August 22, 2008 the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) granted a petition filed by plaintiffs and created a NuvaRing multidistrict litigation (MDL).

All pending NuvaRing cases and all future NuvaRing lawsuits filed in the federal court system will be centralized for discovery purposes in the Eastern District of Missouri before Judge Rodney W. Sippel, in the case captioned In re: NuvaRing Products Liability Litigation, No. 08-md-1964, JPML.

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In late April 2008 attorneys representing some of the women who have sued Organon USA Inc. and other pharmaceutical companies associated with the NuvaRing birth control device filed court papers seeking the establishment of a federal court multidistrict litigation, or MDL, for the NuvaRing litigation (In re: NuvaRing Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 1964, JPMDL).

The plaintiffs' attorneys have suggested in their MDL Petition that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri (E.D. Mo.) is the particular federal district court that should be assigned this proposed NuvaRing MDL.

One reason offered in favor of the NuvaRing MDL being given to this federal court in Missouri is that a NuvaRing case pending there, Sarah M. Jenn v. Organon International, Inc., et al., C.A. No. 4:07-1282, has progressed to the point of having had extensive document production and review done already in the so-called "discovery" process. As such, this NuvaRing case has progessed further in the pre-trial stage of litigation than most if not all other NuvaRing lawsuits filed in federal court. No NuvaRing lawsuits have reached the trial stage, yet.

A second reason the Eastern District of Missouri (E.D. Mo.) was suggested is that Judge Rodney Sippel, who presides there, is experienced in handling multidistrict litigations (MDLs).

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPMDL) has scheduled a July 31, 2008 hearing session pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407 for this NuvaRing MDL Petition. This JPMDL hearing will be held at the Phillip Burton United States Courthouse, in San Francisco, California.

As background, NuvaRing lawsuits are being filed because it is alleged that Organon failed to warn sufficiently about NuvaRing containing a possibly dangerous progestin, etonogestrel, which can cause blood clots and related serious side effects in woman who use "The Ring".

In turn, some women using the NuvaRing birth control device have developed serious side effects such as pulmonary embolism (PE), deep vein thrombosis (DVT), heart attack or myocardial infarction (MI), and ischemic stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA).

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