Mirena IUD Lawsuits Move Forward In NJ with Next Status Conference

A status conference for Mirena IUD lawsuits alleging complications caused by the Bayer intrauterine device will take place next week on April 1, a major step forward in the massive legal preceding pending in New Jersey. A separate Mirena mass tort exists in New York, where an additional 400 cases are filed.

More than 630 Mirena IUD lawsuits have been filed against Bayer in New Jersey, alleging that the birth control device can dislodge itself and puncture the uterus, causing damage to internal organs. Several users claim they experienced serious complications, including physical damage to the uterus, ectopic (tubal) pregnancy, and permanent infertility. Women who do become pregnant while using the IUD, and women who used to use the device, have a higher rate of pregnancy complications.

Mirena is a type of birth control device designed to be inserted into the uterus. Once in place it is designed to remain there for up to five years, making it a very convenient option for preventing pregnancy.

The litigation against Bayer, the device’s manufacturer, has taken the form of a multidistrict litigation. The Mirena MDL, or Mirena mass tort, is similar to a class action lawsuit with a few key differences.

In a Mirena class action lawsuit, all the class members can join onto the same lawsuit as others with similar injuries. In a the Mirena mass tort, everyone files individual personal injury lawsuits. Pharmaceutical drug and medical device lawsuits are usually treated as a mass tort, as opposed to a class action lawsuit, because the injuries can vary, making a single class unrealistic.

Mass tort litigation allows one attorney or a group of attorneys the ability to represent clients with similar injuries as well as pool together resources that can be used and shared by all clients, just like in a Mirena class action lawsuit.

However, unlike a class action lawsuit, there is no cap as to how much the settlement award can be in the Mirena MDL.

For example, more than a 1,000 individual lawsuits have been filed against Bayer over the Mirena IUD in the New Jersey state court and New York federal court combined. These have been consolidated into MDLs, being coordinated across different courts. The main Mirena MDL is being coordinated through a federal court in New York.

However, the case management conference that has been scheduled for April in New Jersey’s Bergen County Superior Court is a multi-county litigation (MCL).

Case management conferences are a vital part of MDLs and MCLs. The case management conferences are held to organize the logistic and bureaucratic hurdles of coordinating hundreds, if not thousands of individual lawsuits into a single procedure. While MDLs ultimately save resources, they are far more complex than a single individual lawsuit.

The Mirena MDL is  In re: Mirena IUD Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2434, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The Mirena MCL is In Re: Mirena Litigation, Case No. 297 in the New Jersey Superior Court of Bergen County.

File a Mirena IUD Class Action Lawsuit Today

If you or a loved one used a Mirena IUD and went on to suffer from serious complications, you’ve almost certainly been through a trying ordeal. The types of complications allegedly associated with the Mirena IUD are medical emergencies, often requiring emergency surgical intervention. When facing emergency surgeries and the ensuing bills, many people feel overwhelmed, and lapse into depression.

But regardless of the challenges you are facing, you need to remember that you still have rights, and there are steps that you can take to regain a measure of control over your situation. You can start by visiting the Birth Control Lawsuits: Mirena IUD Injury Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Investigation. Here, you can enter information about your situation for a legal review by a trained expert. The initial consultation is completely free of charge and from it, you can receive additional guidance on the best steps to take in your exact situation.