Early Trials for NuvaRing Birth Control Lawsuits Unlikely to Begin Until 2012

The first federal trials for product liability lawsuits that allege Nuvaring birth control causes life-threatening blood clots, have been pushed back and will not begin until at least 2012.  

On September 15, U.S District Judge Rodney Sipple issued an order extending the current discovery schedule for federal Nuvaring lawsuits selected for early trials in the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL). The cases, which are commonly referred to as “bellwether” trials, were selected to help the parties gauge how juries will respond to evidence and testimony that will likely be similar to what is offered throughout other cases in the NuvaRing litigation.

The cut-off date for all fact discovery in the NuvaRing trial schedule was pushed back about six months, giving the parties until June 24, 2011. The final deadline, for completion of expert witness depositions, is now set for February 20, 2012. No trial date has yet been scheduled, but it is expected that the trials could be ready to begin by mid-2012.

NuvaRing is a vaginal contraceptive device manufactured by Organon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which releases etonogestrel and ethinyl estradiol through a ring that is inserted into the vagina once a month. The release of hormones is designed to prevent unwanted pregnancies, but hundreds of women throughout the United States have filed lawsuits alleging that drug maker failed to adequately warn about the risk of serious and potentially life-threatening side effects of the NuvaRing birth control ring.

All federal NuvaRing lawsuits are centralized before Judge Sipple in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri for pretrial proceedings as part of an MDL. All of the cases involve similar allegations that the drug maker failed to adequately research the vaginal birth control ring or warn that potential risk of blood clots from Nuvaring, which could increase the risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), stroke, heart attack or sudden death.

At least 450 NuvaRing birth control lawsuits are currently centralized as part of the MDL, and that number continues to increase as NuvaRing lawyers continue to review potential cases for women who have suffered an injury. The litigation started with eight cases that were consolidated into the MDL on August 22, 2008, but has grow steadily as cases were filed in different federal district courts throughout the United States and then transferred to Judge Sipple. There were 22 new cases transferred into the MDL within the past month.

Consolidation of lawsuits over NuvaRing has also occurred at the state court level in New Jersey. As of May 2010, there were at least 113 cases pending before Judge Brain R. Martinotti for mass tort treatment in the Superior Court of Bergen County, New Jersey. A similar delay of the discovery deadlines in trial pool cases in New Jersey has been requested.