March 2010: YAZ / Yasmin / Ocella Litigation Update: More Than 1,100 Lawsuits Filed To Date

Most Injury And Death Cases Are In The Federal Court MDL Or The New Jersey And Pennsylvania State Court "Mass Tort" Consolidations

UPDATE: October 2010: More Than 3700 YAZ / Yasmin / Ocella Lawsuits Filed To Date In Federal Court MDL

41% are venous thromboembolisms (VTE), including pulmonary embolisms (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT); 43% are gallbladder injuries; 10% are strokes and heart attacks / myocardial infarctions (MI).

UPDATE:  More Than 2600 Yaz / Yasmin / Ocella Lawsuits Have Been Filed As Of August 2010 -- First Trial In Federal Court MDL Litigation May Be As Soon As September 2011

This August 2010 MDL lawsuit number does not include the Yaz / Yasmin / Ocella personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits that have been filed in the New Jersey state court "mass tort" consolidation (426 cases as of August 12, 2010) nor the Yaz / Yasmin / Ocella cases that have been filed in the Pennsylvania state court system.

YAZ, Yasmin, and Ocella are birth control pills made by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals which contain ethinyl estradiol (EE) and drospirenone (DRSP).

These DRSP-containing oral contraceptives have been associated with serious side effects, including:

• deep vein thrombosis (DVT);
• pulmonary embolism (PE);
• strokes, or cerebrovascular accident (CVA);
• heart attacks, or myocardial infarction (MI); and,
• gallbladder problems and gallbladder removal (cholecystectomy).
  

According to the 2009 Annual Report for Bayer:

As of February 15, 2010, there were about 1,100 lawsuits pending in the United States served upon Bayer on behalf of persons alleged to have suffered personal injuries, some of them fatal, from the use of Bayer’s oral contraceptive products Yasmin®, YAZ® and / or Ocella, a generic version of Yasmin® distributed by Barr Laboratories, Inc. in the U.S. market.

[From page 243 of 2009 Annual Report.]

As reported previously, all YAZ, Yasmin, and Ocella personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits filed in the federal court system have been consolidated in the Southern District of Illinois as as part of MDL No. 2100 -- IN RE: Yasmin and Yaz (Drospirenone) Marketing and Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation.

A growing number of these YAZ, Yasmin, and Ocella lawsuits are being filed in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania state court systems.

As for Pennsylvania, in September 2009 Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Sandra Mazer Moss consolidated all YAZ, Yasmin, and Ocella lawsuits filed in the Pennsylvania state court system for case management and discovery purposes.

Moving to New Jersey, in mid-February 2010 the New Jersey Supreme Court consolidated all lawsuits filed against Bayer for injury or death allegedly caused by the use of Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella.  New Jersey state court Judge Brian R. Martinotti is presiding over this New Jersey mass tort litigation, captioned In Re YAZ®, Yasmin® and Ocella® Litigation, Case No. 287 (Bergen County).

Returning to the 2009 Annual Report, Bayer states:

Additional [YAZ, Yasmin, and Ocella] lawsuits are anticipated. Bayer believes that it has meritorious defenses and intends to defend itself vigorously.

[From page 243 of 2009 Annual Report; emphasis added.]

YAZ, Yasmin, and Ocella, as well as Gianvi, Zarah, Loryna, Syeda, Beyaz, and Safyral, are the only birth control pills to contain drospirenone (DRSP) and ethinyl estradiol (EE).

Starting in early 2009, our law firm has been contacted by hundreds of women who have developed blood clots or other possible side effects while using these unique, and seemingly unsafe, DRSP/EE birth control pills.

Let us know if we can help you or a loved one who has developed serious medical problems while using YAZ, Yasmin, Ocella, Gianvi, Zarah, Loryna, Syeda, Beyaz, or Safyral.

Go to Free Case Evaluation form >>

Read more on our Drospirenone (DRSP) Birth Control Pills Information Page >>