Federal Judge Dismisses All 1225 Cases in Mirena Multidistrict Litigation

On July 28, 2016, the federal judge presiding over the Mirena multidistrict litigation in the Southern District of New York granted Bayer’s omnibus motion for summary judgment.  The decision represents a major victory for Goldman Ismail and its clients, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc., Bayer Pharma AG, and Bayer Oy, dismissing every single one of the over 1200 cases pending in the MDL.  The Court found that the Plaintiffs failed to provide any admissible evidence of causation to prove their cases against Bayer.

The Court’s opinion, available below, confirms that Plaintiffs cannot proceed to trial without reliable expert testimony linking their alleged injuries to the product.  As Judge Cathy Seibel stated in her opinion, “having excluded Plaintiffs’ expert opinion on general causation, and having concluded that there are no admissions that can substitute for such opinion, and there being no dispute that all claims rise or fall with that decision, I find that Defendants have shown an absence of genuine dispute, and that no reasonable jury could find in favor of Plaintiffs.”  In March 2016, the Court granted Bayer’s motion to exclude all of Plaintiffs’ general causation experts. After that ruling, the Plaintiffs in the first two cases scheduled for trial voluntarily dismissed their cases, recognizing that they had no scientific expert testimony linking their claimed injuries to Mirena.

Shayna S. Cook serves as lead national defense counsel in the Mirena litigation.  Brian P. O'Donoghue is national coordination counsel.  Allyson D. Miller assisted with the briefing.  Kenneth F. Baum, J.D., M.D. leads the national science and expert team, joined by physician/attorneys Emma C. Neff and Michael J. Casner.