Yaz News Depends on Bellwether Trials

Millions of women across the country have been prescribed Yaz or a similar product – fourth-generation birth control pills, containing the artificial hormone drospirenone. Thousands of these women have recently filed lawsuits against the makers of Yaz and Yasmin after experiencing conditions such as venous thromboembolism (including pulmonary embolism), gallbladder injury or disease, and stroke or heart attack. Nearly four thousand lawsuits filed in federal courts are already in the legal system, consolidated into a multidistrict litigation lawsuit that will be presided over by Judge David Herndon of the Southern District of Illinois.
A multidistrict litigation case is a lawsuit similar to class action, in which similar cases from multiple districts are consolidated into one lawsuit that deals with the pretrial process of all of the cases. Unlike class action, however, when the pretrial process is complete the cases are sent back to the courts from which they originated to be decided. This speeds the legal process because the pretrial process is expedited and plaintiffs can expect a settlement sooner.
In the Yaz case, three preliminary trials – called bellwether trials – will be staged before the rest of the cases make their way through the legal system, enabling both clients and lawyers to gauge what the trial process in this particular case is going to be like and giving some idea of the kind of settlement plaintiffs are likely to receive. The first bellwether trial is set for the 12th of September, 2011. It will involve pulmonary embolism. The other two bellwether trials will take place the following year and involve thromboembolism and gallbladder disease, both of which are common side effects of Yaz and Yasmin birth control.
The majority of Yaz and Yasmin cases are thromboembolism and gallbladder injury claims, although stroke and heart attack claims make up ten percent of cases.