Murray Miskin has taught the qualifying course for Ontario Arbitrators since 1985 and a new course in a new format will be offered in downtown Toronto to begin in June 2012. It will be a one week 9 to 5 format instead of the evening class format used in the past. On completion graduates receive a Certificate from the ADR Institute of Ontario which qualifies them for Arbitrator membership in the Institute. This is not Labour Arbitration but is directed towards Arbitration as an alternative to court for civil disputes. Arbitration in Ontario is common with construction, condominium disputes, partnership disputes, It does not cover family law arbitration but is a good skill course for persons who have or will receive family law arbitration training. The course fee of $2,000.00 (plus HST) includes all course materials, certificate, lunches each day and refreshments all day. For detailed information including registration and the full course outline visit our ADR website adrworks.ca
Many individual law suits have been brought in the USA over the side effects of the two similar birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin. Those cases are being fought by the manufacturer Bayer in different districts where they are co-ordinated in Multi District Litigation (MDLs). The courts in Illinois and Pennsylvania ordered mediations to take place before cases were to go to trial in early 2012. In the mediation process Bayer has agreed in early March to a settlement in 70 Yaz lawsuits. All of these settlements are for women who took Yaz/Yasmin and suffered deep vein thrombosis (blood clots) or a pulmonary embolism. More Yaz settlement details will be reported here as they become available, including details of settlement amounts. We are hopeful that some progress will be made towards resolving these claims in Canada soon. The greatest number of claims relate to gall bladder and those cases are not settling yet. Full settlement in the near future is unlikely as the pills continue to be sold and to be very profitable for Bayer. A recommendation to recall the drug was narrowly defeated by an advisory committee to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is expected that stronger warnings will be required to go with the product in the near future pointing out risks.
Yaz or Yasmin can cause dehydration which causes an increase in the potassium levels (hyperkalemia) and a decrease in the sodium levels (hyponatremia) in the body. As potassium acts as a key control in cardiac rhythm, this imbalance can cause hyperkalemia arrhythmias, which, in turn can cause blood clots and thrombotic events such as stroke or deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, or heart attack. Dehydration is also a risk factor for kidney stones and gallbladder disease. While other birth control pills can also cause thrombotic events, the cause of those effects are from the estrogen side of the equation. The thrombotic effects of Yaz and Yasmin are from the progesterin side. While it has long been accepted that high estrogen levels can cause these adverse events, Yaz/Yasmin/Ocella have been marketed as having low estrogen levels, thereby having a lower risk for thrombotic events. There have been several studies that have called this into question.
The Miskin Law firm is making claims related to these drugs and working with the class action court proceedings that have been started in Canada. The class action proceedings take a long time to advance and they stop individual law suits from proceeding for now. An application for certification of the class action is to be heard in the Ontario court in one year in February 2013. Until then we are working to document our clients’ claims. We represent people to get them compensation both individually and through the class action process. Once there is certification by the court of the class action people will have a choice of claiming through it or trying to get more with special circumstances in an individual claim. Contact us if you believe you have been harmed by Yaz or Yasmin. Email Murray Miskin directly: miskinlaw@yahoo.com
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