Plaintiff's Case Joins Yaz Class Action Lawsuit

A plaintiff has agreed to allow her Yaz and Yasmin lawsuit be consolidated in the coordinated proceedings taking place in relation to the birth control drugs. The coordinated proceedings are taking place in Los Angeles County, California, and are similar to class action litigation in a number of ways but are distinct in others. Grace Santamaria filed a Yaz lawsuit, represented by a Yaz lawyer, that will now be connected to this litigation. 

Yaz Consolidated Litigation Similar to Class Action

Santamaria's lawsuit will be combined with similar lawsuits, as it would be if it were involved in a Yaz class action lawsuit, but it also retains its individuality and it will be considered separately from other lawsuits of its type based on her individual experiences and side effects that she endured. In a class action lawsuit, any damages awarded to plaintiffs involved in this type of litigation are divided among them, while in a consolidated lawsuit pretrial processes such as witness testimony and discovery are shared but the cases are still considered individually. The cases are also remanded, or returned to the courts in which they were filed, before litigation will take place unless a settlement is reached outside of court. 

Yaz consolidated litigation will take place in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles and will be overseen before Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl. 

Yaz and Yasmin Lawsuits Based on Side Effects

Plaintiffs that have filed suit regarding Yaz or Yasmin birth control pills claim to have experienced side effects of the medication, which have been known to include Yaz blood clots, Yaz pulmonary embolism, and Yaz gallbladder disease. Plaintiff Grace Santamaria, in the complaint filed by her Yaz lawyer, claims to have experienced Yaz portal vein thrombosis, with a blood clot having formed in the hepatic portal vein, a large vein in the abdomen. This condition was diagnosed on the 7th of May, 2008.

Symptoms of portal vein thrombosis can include fluid accumulation in the abdomen, gastrointestinal bleeding, pain, nausea, fever, and occasionally vomiting of blood. A number of plaintiffs have filed suit for this and similar reasons, mostly relating to Yaz blood clots and other clotting problems. Yaz and Yasmin have been linked to an unusually high rate of blood clot problems.