Yaz (Yasmin) Birth Control Lawsuits Consolidated to Southern District of Illinois Court
The Simmons Hanly Conroy’s Trent Miracle will serve on a committee dedicated to representing thousands of women that were seriously injured after taking Yaz (Yasmin), the popular birth control pill manufactured and marketed by Bayer Pharmaceuticals.
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has ordered that all federal Yaz and Yasmin birth control pill lawsuits be consolidated and centralized for pretrial litigation in the Southern District of Illinois under the guidance of U.S. District Judge David R. Herndon in East St. Louis. Miracle is one of 13 attorneys selected to manage the national litigation.
“We anticipate seeing as many as 10,000 cases,” said Miracle, who heads up Simmons Hanly Conroy’s pharmaceutical litigation practice. “Unfortunately, the injuries are widespread and serious. Consolidating these lawsuits into multidistrict litigation should allow us to help these women in a manner that’s both efficient and fair.”
All of the cases involve allegations that the popular birth control pills containing the new progestin drospirenone increase the risk of serious and potentially life-threatening health problems, such as heart attacks, strokes, pulmonary embolisms, deep vein thrombosis, gallbladder disease, and sudden death. The complaints allege that Bayer Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures both Yaz and Yasmin, failed to adequately research their products, fraudulently concealed the risk of injury, negligently failed to warn about the degree of risk women faced, and misrepresented the safety of the drugs in comparison to other available birth control pills.
Miracle said his role on the Steering Committee will be defined in the coming months as he and other attorneys continue to gather evidence against Bayer. Earlier this year Miracle took over Simmons Hanly Conroy’s growing pharmaceutical practice, which already is recognized on the national stage for its groundbreaking litigation of drug and supplement cases against major pharmaceutical companies. Miracle has worked extensively litigating against the development and marketing of dangerous drugs such as Vioxx, Bextra, Ortho Evra, Ephedra and Phenylpropanolamine (PPA), Oxycontin, and others.
“When corporations put profits over safety, the legal system is often the last resort for the people that were hurt,” said Miracle. “I look forward to serving on this committee and working hard to represent the interest of thousands of women who were unfairly harmed.”
