Attorney Ads Are Driving Paragard IUD Cases

As a growing number of lawsuits are filed over the Paragard intrauterine device, the defense is arguing that these suits are products of plaintiffs’ attorney advertising and “not a genuine mass tort,” according to a report in Law.com.

Teva and affiliated companies are fighting a bid to create multidistrict litigation for more than 55 lawsuits brought over the Paragard IUD, pointing out that lawyers filed 75% of their cases in 2020, despite the product being on the market for more than 30 years.

“This is about attorney advertising and an uptick in that advertising promoted by movant’s counsel, not a genuine mass tort,” wrote Ulmer & Berne partners Frederick Erny and Jeffrey Peck. “It portends a model that plays out in MDLs in which cases are filed and added to the MDL not because they are meritorious, but rather because cases can easily be filed, escape individual scrutiny and artificially inflate case counts for settlement.”