Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog
Bayer could have to pay up to or more than $1.2 billion in order to settle personal injury lawsuits over the company’s Yaz and Yasmin oral contraceptives. For Bayer’s second quarter stockholder update, Bayer told its investors that it is currently facing nearly 13,000 Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits. In July 2012, Bayer accepted a settlement totaling just over $400 million. The German company paid this amount in order to settle approximately a third of the total number of Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits filed against them at that time. Bloomberg reported on July 31st that Bayer has settled 1,877 Yaz lawsuits for $402.6 million, at an average of around $212,000 per case. In addition, Bayer has more than doubled its reserves for settling these cases to over $610 million, which could prove to be positive news for those negatively affected by the drug that have yet to file a claim.
These lawsuits were filed by users of Yaz or Yasmin oral contraceptives, who suffered from venous thrombo-embolic blood clot injuries, such as a pulmonary embolism and/or deep vein thrombosis. Attorneys defending the women who have been hurt by these drugs have cited FDA reports of at least 50 deaths tied to the pills from 2004 to 2008. Bayer failed to warn that users of Yaz and Yasmin were much more likely to suffer these types of injuries than users of older, less expensive birth control pills.
Drug-industry analysts, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Richard Vosser, have said that Bayer may have to pay more than 2 billion Euros (approximately 2.6 billion US dollars) in order to resolve all of these cases. Bayer recently made a statement telling its investors it is currently settling only those cases alleging blood clot injuries, which is said to number around 6,000 of the total cases.
The federal litigation over Yaz and Yasmin is currently consolidated for pretrial proceedings before U.S. district Judge David R. Herndon in the Southern District Court of Illinois as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation. The Yaz and Yasmin MDL has recently grown to become the largest pending litigation in the federal court system.
New information came out on September 12, 2012 that a woman in California has filed a Yaz lawsuit alleging that Yaz was the underlying cause of her developing kidney stones. This appears to be the first Yaz or Yasmin lawsuit that claims that either of these medications can cause kidney stones. It is currently unknown whether or not the California woman and her lawyer will choose to add their case to the existing Yaz and Yasmin MDL in Illinois. Kidney stones may not be the last medical issue to arise with a possible link to Yaz or Yasmin. Any medication that causes blood clots or affects the body’s ability to correctly coagulate blood could lead to any number of medical issues. Some of these issues and complications could develop quickly, while it could possibly take years for other issues to be realized and addressed.
At Borchardt Law Firm, we wish for no family to ever experience incapacitating tragedies due to defective medicines. Our firm has the experience and the drive necessary to continue to strive for the improved protection of future generations of Texans. If you or a loved one has ever suffered from a related misfortune and feel you were not properly warned about the potential risks, don’t hesitate to contact a lawyer to discuss whether you may be entitled to legal compensation. Borchardt Law Firm represents clients over many areas in Texas; feel free to give us a call.
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Fort Worth, Texas 76102