Yaz Lawwuit

The first Yaz of case set to go to trial on January 9th has taken an interesting turn. The federal judge overseeing thousands of Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella venous thromboembolism lawsuits has ordered that all parties instead meet with a special mediator in order to negotiate a settlement for the litigation.

The December 31st order for mediation from Judge Herndon not only pushes off the start of the trial, but it also denies the prosecution and the defense the chance to gauge how juries would react and respond to the evidence presented in many of the cases. Stephen Saltzburg, a professor at the George Washington School of Law, was the Special Master appointed to mediated the entire litigation.

As it stands, more than 10,500 women have filed product liability lawsuits against Bayer AG, alleging that they suffered injuries as a result of Bayer’s failure to properly warn users of the potentially dangerous side effects of Yasmin, Yaz and other drospirenone-containing birth control pills.

Moreover, a recent report issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration suggests that drospirenone-containing birth control pills may increase the risk for blood clots by as much as 75 percent over older-generation birth control pills.