April 8, 2012 – A former Marina City resident who filed a consumer complaint in 2009 against Marina Towers Condominium Association is now taking on the makers of the controversial oral contraceptive Yaz.

In what is now a federal lawsuit, originally filed in Cook County on September 28, 2011, Mindy Verson (left) claims she suffered “severe and permanent injuries” as a result of taking Yaz. She is seeking at least $50,000.

Bayer Corporation, Bayer Healthcare LLC, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Bayer AG are listed in court documents as defendants. Last November, the case was transferred from Circuit Court to U.S. District Court – first to the Northern District of Illinois based in Chicago, then to the Southern District of Illinois based in East St. Louis, Illinois.

Verson says she was prescribed the contraceptive in 2009 and that after taking it, developed blood clots in her veins and lungs, also known as venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Bayer denies responsibility, saying its products, Yaz and Yasmin, “were neither defective nor unreasonably dangerous in their design, manufacture, or marketing and were reasonably safe and reasonably fit for their intended uses.”

Bayer also charges the alleged injuries were caused by pre-existing conditions. In an unsuccessful lawsuit in 2009, Verson blamed the City of Chicago for a pulmonary embolism she says she developed after falling at a downtown crosswalk.

On September 15, 2008, near the intersection of Lake Street and Dearborn Street, Verson claimed she fell due to “an uneven series of potholes and metal plates.” She says she broke her wrist in the fall, resulting in $14,488 in medical bills. She sued for $50,000.

Literally thousands of lawsuits have been filed against Bayer in the past few years, with plaintiffs claiming Yaz can cause severe and life-threatening side effects. Verson, who former friends and neighbors say is openly lesbian, was presumably taking the drug for one of the many beneficial side effects that critics claim advertising for Yaz has promoted.

On March 26, 2009, an agreement was reached between the City of Chicago and Marina Towers Condominium Association, ending a yearlong dispute with Verson over access to financial records. MTCA had been issued citations by the city’s Department of Consumer Services after Verson, then a unit owner, filed an administrative action.