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Ethicon Media Monitoring 02/01/2017
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Judge Approves $12 Million Settlement in Caldera Transvaginal Mesh Claims
Jan 31, 2017 | Mesh Medical Device Newsdesk
Caldera Medical received a final approval of its proposed settlement to end all of its pelvic mesh litigation on Monday. -
Urinary Incontinence Alternative to Surgery
Feb 1, 2017 | Mesh Medical Device Newsdesk
By Christine Kent
As an alternative to surgery to treat stress urinary incontinence, Whole Woman Founder, Christine Kent, is offering a consultation on her unique ways to treat the condition without surgery. Whole Woman is not a supporter or advertiser to Mesh News Desk.
Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel
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Judge Approves $12 Million Settlement in Caldera Transvaginal Mesh Claims
Jan 31, 2017 | Mesh Medical Device Newsdesk
Caldera Medical received a final approval of its proposed settlement to end all of its pelvic mesh litigation on Monday. Those women who claim permanent injuries from Caldera transvaginal mesh, will receive the smallest settlements among all seven manufacturers.
At a hearing Monday in Los Angeles courtroom, California-based Caldera Medical faced bankruptcy as one option to finally resolve its 3,800 pending claims.
After once denying the proposed Caldera Medical settlement of $11.75 million, Judge Stephen V. Wilson on Monday agreed to the proposed settlement, ending Caldera Medical’s transvaginal mesh litigation. The monies will be distributed to women who were implanted with one of Caldera Medicals transvaginal mesh products – the T-Sling, the Desara, Ascend, Hydrix, and the pelvic organ prolapse mesh, Vertessa.
Depending on her degree of injury, each woman will receive somewhere under $5,000 after legal fees and expenses are paid, making it among the smallest compensation amounts for the 100,000 women who claim injuries by transvaginal mesh made by seven manufacturers.
Bankruptcy was one option for California-based Caldera Medical which has been in protracted litigation over its insurance coverage. That litigation’s costs reduced the settlement amount from $35 million to just $11.75.
The afternoon hearing before Judge Wilson was a renewed motion for attorney’s fees and the renewed motion for settlement approval of the Caldera class of injured women.
Dozens of women had objected to the initial offer made by Caldera Medical.
**Late Add** One women, who has pursued Caldera Medical pro se, that is without representation, Samantha, is barred from filing any future claims within the federal judiciary, per an email she received by RR Johnson, Senior Counsel Locke Lord LLP, an attorney for Federal Insurance Company.
He sent an email to Samantha, (not her real name) saying her objections were specifically mentioned to the Judge before he granted final settlement approval. Any and all claims that you may have had against any of the released parties, including Caldera, are now barred any released.
No reason was given.
“Overwhelming,” was all she had to say to Mesh News Desk.
Attorney Lee Balefsky (Kline Specter) who appeared before Judge Wilson on behalf of 36 claimants said Judge Wilson did not offer an opinion but it should be published shortly.
“In our view it’s a sad day for women who have been injured by this company’s products,” Lee Balefsky.
You may recall that last year Caldera Medical said it was insolvent after the litigation between Caldera and Federal Insurance (Chubb). The $11.75 would be a final offer, there were no opt-outs, no chance to go to trial. Take it or leave it.
Some attorneys for the women agreed to the proposal while Balefsky and others asked Caldera to be dissolved to determine its true value.
While insisting on the limited settlement, Caldera announced it was partnering with IVUMed to “eradicate the incapacitation and suffering of women with stress urinary incontinence and prolapse organ prolapse.”
The one million women who would allegedly have their suffering eradicated were from Third World countries.
Then in October 2016, Caldera Medical spent thousands as one sponsor of the 2016 American Urogynecologic Association (AUGS) annual meeting. One of the company directors told me there that they were fully solvent.
Where did you hear they were insolvent? she asked, “From a trial attorney,” she glared at me.
Caldera Medical says it is dedicated to “improving the quality of life for women.”
Samantha, a Caldera mesh “victim” as she calls herself, said a bankruptcy would have been a good option for the company to determine its true value.
“The federal trustee could then determine the level of federal fraud between Caldera Medical and Chubb Insurance Company and American Medical System (AMS) and determine if the stockholder and the patent holders and the board of directors will also have to contribute to the damages for victims,” she said before the agreement was announced.
Samantha, like others damaged by the Caldera pelvic mesh believe that AMS should also be tapped for its insurance coverage since it provided the surgical tools used in the mesh kits that Caldera sold.
She believes all of the mass tort attorneys wanted out of this litigation so they agreed to a settlement that was not in their client’s best interest.
“If you are hit by a drunk driver, that’s what this is like. There was no informed consent. I find out who the parties are who have damaged me. I called them and was given a claim number with no investigation at all. You wouldn’t allow this in a hit-and-run. They know there are multiple policies and they know I’m outside their policies.”
She was implanted with a Caldera mesh in 2004, outside of the Caldera Medical insurance coverage period of 2008-2012 and before the FDA had ever been notified that Caldera wanted to put one of its medical devices into commerce as is required under FDA rules. She says she did not sign an agreement to be part of a clinical trial.
Caldera Medical, while technically not insured at that time, claims that “tail insurance” will cover Samantha and others outside of the coverage period. Samantha calls that insurance fraud.
“They said that’s all the money for the Caldera women and that’s not true,” she says.
Did Caldera operate for a decade without any life science or general liability insurance?
That question also has never been litigated. ###
http://www.meshmedicaldevicenewsdesk.com/judge-approves-12-million-settlement-caldera-transvaginal-mesh-claims/
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Urinary Incontinence Alternative to Surgery
Feb 1, 2017 | Mesh Medical Device Newsdesk
By Christine Kent
Mesh Medical Device News Desk, January 31, 2017 ~ As an alternative to surgery to treat stress urinary incontinence, Whole Woman Founder, Christine Kent, is offering a consultation on her unique ways to treat the condition without surgery. Whole Woman is not a supporter or advertiser to Mesh News Desk.
Hello Jane,
The journey to regaining control of your body can be a lonely one when prolapse, urinary incontinence, or chronic hip pain take charge of your life, impede your activity, and make you feel old before your time.
Many of these conditions are difficult to discuss with friends and family. If you do, too often all you will get are blank or embarrassed responses of dubious value like, “Just go have the surgery!”
When you have questions and concerns you need to express, the Whole Woman online forum is a wonderful resource, a community now of almost 12,000 women.
But a forum isn’t the same as a knowledgeable and supportive voice on the other end of the phone.
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There is no time limit on when you actually have to have the call, so if you’re not quite ready for the consultation, but would like to take advantage of the discount, make your purchase now and then we can schedule the actual call when you are ready.
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Thanks!
Best wishes,
Christine Kent
Founder
Whole Womanhttp://www.meshmedicaldevicenewsdesk.com/urinary-incontinence-alternative-surgery/
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