Yaz Litigation: Who is filing and where
In the wake of her 18 year old daughter’s publicized death, Jean Cummins filed a wrongful death Yaz lawsuit against Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc., the manufacturer of the birth control pill. This Yaz lawsuit was filed in Pennsylvania on May 10, 2011; specifically in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas.
Cummins’daughter, Michelle Pfleger, was a freshman at Elon University who collapsed on campus while on her way to class and died of a Yaz pulmonary thromboemboli at Alamance Regional Medical Center in Burlington, NC last September. According to her mother’s Yaz lawsuit in Pennsylvania, Michelle was taking the oral contraceptive Yaz for acne when she developed the fatal Yaz blood clot that lodged in her lungs causing a blockage and leading to cardiac arrest.
For those following other legal developments regarding Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella, the Pennsylvania Yaz lawsuit filing may seem at odds with the MDL order regarding ongoing Yaz litigation in Illinois.
Yaz lawsuits in Pennsylvania centralized in mass tort
On September 17, 2009 all Yaz lawsuits in Pennsylvania were centralized as part of a mass tort coordination order. This mass tort designation allows for all cases filed in Pennsylvania to be consolidated into one court with one judge presiding over all cases. The Complex Litigation Center which is part of the Court of Common Pleas has been selected to handle the Yaz lawsuits in Pennsylvania. The Complex Litigation Center was the first courthouse in the US that was specifically designed to manage complex, multi-filed mass tort lawsuits. The Honorable Sandra M. Moss oversees and coordinates all administration of Complex Litigation Center programs, including the Yaz/Yasmin/Ocella mass tort lawsuits.
A similar mass tort consolidation of Yaz lawsuits is also currently proceeding in New Jersey state court under the supervision of Judge Brian R. Martinotti.
Federal Yaz litigation in Illinois encompasses state level discovery efforts
Despite the split on the state and federal level, the Yaz litigation in Illinois encompasses a coordinated discovery effort.
According to MDL records, the latest Yaz litigation status conference, which took place on May 18, 2011 in Philadelphia, PA, was a coordinated conference including all the judges and Yaz lawyers for the MDL as well asthe PA and NJ mass torts.
Status of Yaz litgation
The purpose of the Yaz litigation status conference was to have everyone participate in the proposal and agreement of upcoming bellwether trials. A proposed bellwether schedule was agreed to for MDL and Pennsylvania Yaz lawsuits. The very first trial will be an MDL case involving the Yaz side effect- pulmonary embolism. It is set for January 12, 2012. Yaz gallbladder disease and venous thromboembolism will be at issue in the subsequent bellwether trials.
The next case management conference in the New Jersey Yaz lawsuits is set for August 10, 2011.
Yaz lawyers are best suited to answer case-specific questions about the jurisdictional implications of filing a Yaz lawsuit.
