A California judge ordered that 55 Essure cases will be coordinated before a single judge in Alameda County Superior Court.

The Sept. 30 Order Granting the Petition for Coordination will reportedly facilitate efficient adjudication in the California court system and coordinate the efforts on behalf of all the women allegedly injured by the permanent birth control device.

Together, the 55 newly-consolidated Essure cases represent over 900 women, all of whom say that Bayer’s birth control implant Essure causes debilitating side effects.

Essure is a small metal coil that is placed in the fallopian tubes via catheter. Essure was originally conceived by Conceptus Inc., a subsidiary of Bayer AG, as an alternative permanent birth control method for women that did not want to undergo surgical laparoscopic tubal ligation.

Since Essure’s approval, the FDA has received thousands of side effect reports linked to the device, including chronic pelvic pain, abnormal menstruation, unwanted pregnancy, organ perforation, and hysterectomy.

The order for consolidation of the 55 Essure cases was handed down by Judge Winifred Y. Smith, Assistant Presiding Judge for the Superior Court of Alameda County.

According to California’s Judicial Branch, civil case coordination “allows two or more civil actions (cases) that share common questions of fact or law and that are pending in different counties to be joined in one court.”

In California courts, this mechanism is known as Judicial Council Coordination Proceedings, or JCCP.

JCCP is not the same as class action. After consolidation, each Essure lawsuit will remain an individual legal action and no plaintiff will be required to forfeit any of her legal rights.

Plaintiffs’ counsel argued for the coordination of all state court actions in the Essure litigation, stating that having the Essure cases before a single judge as coordinated proceedings will greatly assist the thousands of women injured by Essure, enabling them to essentially litigate their claims in one courtroom.

“This is a very favorable development for these injured women. Having these cases coordinated before a single judge will avoid inconsistent rulings and allow these women to prosecute their claims in a cohesive and unified manner,” said Elizabeth Graham of Grant & Eisenhofer, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, “Coordinated proceedings in the Essure litigation will enable counsel to fast-track the case, streamline discovery. The JCCP coordination will hopefully bring a swifter judicial remedy to all the women who were injured by Bayer’s Essure procedure.”

More Essure Cases Nationwide

Over 1,000 women have now filed Essure lawsuits nationwide, accusing Bayer of concealing evidence on the implant’s potential risks from the FDA.

Beyond California, several groups of Essure cases have been consolidated in other courts. At least 18 federal lawsuits are currently consolidated in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

In July, a second group of plaintiffs moved to have their own Essure cases coordinated in the Pennsylvania federal court, but ultimately withdrew their request.