Judge Issues Order in Ocella Birth Control Lawsuits
By Andrea Gressman
As the number of Ocella lawsuits continues to grow a federal judge who presides over the Yaz and Yasmin lawsuit multidistrict litigation (MDL) issued an order in regards to the service of process in Ocella lawsuits. Ocella is a form of birth control and happens to be the generic version of Yasmin. However, Yasmin is manufactured by Bayer HealthCare while Ocella is distributed by Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. and Barr Laboratories, Inc.
It has been reported that the number of Ocella lawsuits has been on the rise and that many of these have been consolidated into the MDL housing lawsuits filed over Yasmin, Yaz, Beyaz and other birth control pills that contain drospirenone. This was established previously to handle the large number of birth control lawsuits that were being filed. These birth control lawsuits have come before the United States District Judge David R. Herndon.
It has been reported that Barr and Teva agreed to the service of process that Judge Herndon outlined in his recent order. These terms require that the birth control lawsuit as well as the summons be sent to any of those representing those companies by way of certified mail. They have to complete this within 90 days from the date of the order for any Ocella lawsuits that have been previously filed and then 60 days for any of the future Ocella lawsuits that are added to the docket in the Yaz and Yasmin lawsuit MDL.
The Yasmin, Yaz, Beyaz and Ocella lawsuits all contain similar complaints and that is that the drospirenone contained in the birth control pills caused the user to experience severe side effects, such as dangerous blood clots. It has been shown in a number of studies that the drospirenone increases the blood clot risk significantly over other birth control options that don’t contain drospirenone. The Yaz, Yasmin, Beyaz and Ocella lawsuits also claim that the manufacturers did not properly warn the users of this side effect risk. Some of the major side effects of these birth control pills that users were exposed to include the following:
- Deep vein thrombosis
- Pulmonary embolism
- Stroke
- As well as other injuries
The defendant listed on each of the Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella lawsuits is Bayer HealthCare. Bayer is the manufacturer of Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella birth control pills; Teva and Barr distribute Ocella as the generic form of Yasmin. This agreement was established in 2008 between the three companies.
There are some of the Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella lawsuits that have listed Teva and Barr companies as the defendants. It was also listed in the order issued by Judge Herndon that those particular Ocella lawsuits do not require a responsive pleading at this time. This was done to avoid any issues that would concern any personal jurisdiction regarding those entities.
There have been over 10,000 Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits consolidated in the Yasmin and Yaz lawsuit MDL. These do not account for the many Yaz and Yasmin lawsuits that are pending at the state level courts. It has also been reported that Bayer has settled thousands of lawsuits to date. But, it does not seem that the end of these Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella lawsuits is near.
Please visit the Yaz/Yasmin, Beyaz & Ocella Birth Control Pill Class Action Lawsuit Settlement & Investigation page if you feel you have grounds to file a Yaz, Yasmin, or Ocella lawsuit. Provide your information and you can receive a free legal review from a qualified Yaz, Yasmin, and Ocella lawsuit attorney.
Updated January 23rd, 2013
All medical device, dangerous drug and medical class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Drug and Medical Device section of Top Class Actions.
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