Fidelma Fitzpatrick has been named lead counsel of the California litigation over Bayer Corp.’s Essure birth control device, the latest woman to spearhead a mass tort.
Fitzpatrick, a partner in the Providence, Rhode Island, office of Motley Rice, was appointed last month to head a five-member plaintiffs executive committee in the Essure litigation before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith. Smith’s order was made public on Jan. 6. About 50 lawsuits filed in California on behalf of more than 800 women allege Bayer failed to disclose that its Essure device could cause chronic pain, bleeding and unintended pregnancies.
