Essure has been marketed as a permanent sterilization method for women that does not require surgery. Essure was first developed by Conceptus Inc., which became part of Bayer Healthcare in 2013. The Essure device is a pair of soft, flexible metal and fiber coils that are inserted into the fallopian tubes by a healthcare provider.
After a period of three months, scar tissue forms around the Essure implant, creating a barrier that prevents sperm from reaching the ova so that the woman is unable to conceive.
The Essure Claims Foundation is an independent Dutch foundation (the “Foundation”). The Foundation stands up for the interests of injured women who have suffered damage from implantation of the Essure device.
The Foundation looks after and represents women who suffer damage, are at risk of suffering damage and/or have suffered damage as a result of Bayer’s actions and/or omissions with regard to the Essure implant.
The Foundation seeks to achieve its goals by conducting research and providing information. The Foundation also intends to initiate legal proceedings in the Netherlands on behalf of injured women and to request a declaration of law that establishes Bayer’s unlawful conduct against the victims. The Foundation strives to achieve a binding settlement with Bayer that compensates the injured women. The Foundation is also investigating other ways to ensure that the disadvantaged women are compensate.
Since Essure has been put on the market, there has been an increasing number of reports of dangerous side effects associated with Essure. Many women have experienced unwanted side effects due to Essure, including perforation of the uterus or other organs and chronic pain. Many of these women had to have the Essure implant surgically removed.
On May 29, 2017, Bayer announced the removal of Essure from the Dutch market, after which sales and distribution were discontinued as of July 1, 2017. After thousands of complaints worldwide against Bayer, on September 25, 2017, it stopped sales and distribution in all countries outside the United States. On December 31, 2018, Bayer stopped marketing Essure in the United States.
CHATTENHAM FUNDING LLC
Chattenham Funding LLC finances the activities of the Foundation for the benefit of the aggrieved parties. In exchange, Chattenham Funding LLC will collect a litigation funding fee of up to 25% of the net proceeds, if the Foundation obtains a recovery for aggrieved parties.
For more information about the Essure class action in The Netherlands, please visit essureclaims.nl
PGMBM (a trading name of Excello Law Limited)
SRA License Number 512898
PROFILE
Antoinette Collignon is a specialist in cross-border liability and personal injury cases, product liability, employers’ liability and private international law. She advises insurers, international claims agencies, companies, but also victims. In international cases, she works closely with reputable law firms in Europe and the United States. She is a founding member of the Pan European Organisation for Personal Injury Lawyers (PEOPIL) and lectures at international conferences and seminars on European law, personal injury claims and traffic accidents.
She is author of the book Deelgeschilprocedure (Serie Burgerlijk Proces & Praktijk, Wolters Kluwer).
WORK EXPERIENCE
OTHER FUNCTIONS
Present
Former
MEMBERSHIPS
EDUCATION
WORK EXPERIENCE
OTHER FUNCTIONS
Present
Former
EDUCATION
WORK EXPERIENCE
OTHER FUNCTIONS
QUALIFICATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
Gemma Kenter (1952) studied medicine at the UVA, after which she was trained as a gynecologist in Leiden and Amsterdam. She is a subspecialist in gynecological oncology and was head of the polyclinic in the LUMC from 1986-1997 and head of gynecological oncology in the LUMC from 1997-2009.
In 1991 she obtained her PhD in Utrecht with a thesis entitled “Aspects on treatment and prognosis in carcinoma of the uterine cervix”. In 2005 she was appointed professor of gynecological oncology with a special interest in immunotherapy. In August 2009 she became head of the Gynecological Oncology Center Amsterdam (AMC, AVL, VUmc). Her areas of interest are: “Late consequences of the treatment for cervical cancer” and “The role of the immune system in cervical cancer”. She has retired since December 2018.
Kim Smit (1970) is an experienced finance executive / non-executive director with a high level of personal integrity and transparency who has built a broad and international career through a wide range of roles with Shell and the Leiden University Medical Center. She has experience in and knowledge of organisation- and change-management, governance, long-term investments, risk management, ICT, compliance, treasury and strategy.
Non-executive positions in addition to Stichting Essure Claims
Professional managerial and executive experience
Education
Karl Peter Puszkajler is a German lawyer (Rechtsanwalt) and former judge at the appellate court (Oberlandesgericht) in Munich, Germany, with extensive experience in civil, corporate and criminal cases.
After retirement as a judge in 2011, he has placed the focus of his domestic and international legal interests and activities on capital market law and redress in collective actions. Since 2016 he is advisor in major investors’ claims under the German Capital Market Model Procedure Law (KapMuG).
He was co-director of the Dutch SICAF (Stichting Investor Claims Against Fortis) and member of the advisory board of the Stichting Steinhoff International Compensation Claims. Currently, he serves on the supervisory board of SILC (Stichting Investor Loss Compensation, Amsterdam).
For decades he has been teaching and training lawyers and judges in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. He also advised the Rwandan prosecutor general in re-establishing the judiciary after genocide destroyed the country and recently advised the administration of the Autonomous Region Kurdistan (Irak) in a project to modernize enforcement proceedings.
He is co-author of commentaries to the German law on limited liability companies (GmbHG) and on the compensation procedure for minority shareholders (SpruchG).