Don't let Bayer avoid responsibility for injuries to women

Another example of corporations attacking our rights:

This time, it is an attempt to squelch our ability to sue big corporations.

The birth control pill Yasmin, or Yaz, has been shown to cause blood clots in blood vessels that can lead to death.1 According to recent studies, Yaz carries triple the risk over traditional birth control pills. 2

So what is the response of Bayer, the manufacturer of Yaz? They are trying to prevent women from being able to sue for damages by changing the rules by which plaintiffs can pool their efforts to sue when there is a large number of claims of damages against a product.

Cases like this are expensive to litigate, and unless working people can join together in what’s called “mass tort,” lawyers won’t be able to build a winnable case against corporations like Bayer with their untold billions of dollars in resources.

There are already thousands of cases filed against Bayer, with many more to come. Bayer wants to change the rules, effectively separating the cases, requiring tens of thousands of individual trials in courts across the country.

If Bayer wins, it will effectively end the possibility of a fair trial for women who are making claims that they were injured or killed by Yaz. And it will mean that other corporations will have a new way to avoid responsibility by manipulating our courts. 3

Tell Bayer to play fair. Sign our petition demanding that they stop their attempt to change the rules.

1 British Medical Journal http://www.bmj.com/content/326/7383/257.full
2 Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/22/idUS87382+22-Apr-2011+PRN20110422
3 While this is in Pennsylvania’s courts, this will have a national impact, since many of these cases are from out of state, and because it will embolden other big corporations to use this tactic.