Second Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms Bayer’s Summary Judgment Win in the Mirena IIH MDL

On December 8, 2020, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Southern District of New York Judge Paul Engelmayer's June 2019 decision granting summary judgment to Bayer in the Mirena Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) product liability multidistrict litigation (MDL) due to plaintiffs' lack of admissible evidence of general causation. The Second Circuit reasoned in its order that "the district court appropriately undertook a rigorous review of each of plaintiffs' experts, and based on that review reasonably found that the experts' methods were not sufficiently reliable and that their conclusions were not otherwise supported by the scientific community."

This is another significant victory in the IIH MDL for Goldman Ismail clients Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc., Bayer Pharma AG, and Bayer Oy and affirms the dismissal of the over 900 cases in that MDL. Shayna Cook serves as co-lead national defense counsel in the Mirena IIH MDL. Brian O'Donoghue is national coordination counsel. Kenneth Baum, J.D., M.D. leads the national science and expert team. Other team members include Tarek Ismail, Emma Ross, Allyson Julien, Laura Sexton, and Michael Casner. Co-counsel are from Covington & Burling LLP, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, and, on appeal, from Williams & Connolly LLP.

Press coverage of the Second Circuit decision is available here, here, and here.