In its Stockholders’ Newsletter for the first quarter of 2012, Bayer reports that it has resolved 651 Yaz lawsuits for a total of $142 million, which averages $218,000 per settlement. No one knows the total liability Bayer will face from Yaz lawsuits, but some analysts have speculated it will top $2 billion dollars.
The reason Bayer is choosing to settle so many cases is because it has some semblance of control over the process, as opposed to a jury trial, in which Bayer has no control over what a jury will do. Sometimes predictability is so important to a company that it will settle cases it believes it could win. And of course, sometimes a company is desperate to settle cases it knows it will lose. There’s no way to tell which is the case with Bayer and Yaz, but the fact that Yaz settlements are occurring is good news to the thousands of women who were injured while taking the drug.
This news comes just weeks after the FDA ordered Bayer to strengthen the warnings on Yaz regarding the risk of developing serious blood clots while using the products.
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