Preview Newsletter
Ethicon Media Monitoring 2/1/2019
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Pelvic Mesh Lead Attorneys Stand to Get $550M
Jan 31, 2019 | Bloomberg Law
By Julie Steinberg
Plaintiffs’ leadership attorneys in federal pelvic mesh multidistrict litigation stand to gain an estimated $550 million for their work, according to a recent order by the court overseeing the seven separate proceedings. -
Judge awards plaintiffs’ attorneys $366 million in Boston Sci pelvic mesh cases
Jan 31, 2019 | Mass Device
By Nancy Crotti
Attorneys representing thousands of plaintiffs who sued Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) over alleged pelvic mesh injuries will receive $366 million, or 5% of the total recoveries in the cases. -
UPDATE: Philly jury hits J&J’s Ethicon with $41m judgment in pelvic mesh case
Jan 31, 2019 | Mass Device
By Fink Densford
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary Ethicon has been hit with a $41 million verdict in a pelvic mesh product liability suit in Philadelphia, according to a report from the Mesh News Desk. -
J&J's Ethicon Slammed With $41M Verdict In Philly Mesh Case
Jan 31, 2019 | Law 360
By Matt Fair
A Philadelphia jury tagged Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon Inc. with a $41 million verdict on Thursday after agreeing that defects in a pelvic mesh implant manufactured by the company left a woman with permanent injuries after the product sawed into her vagina. -
Vaginal Mesh Survivor Wins $41 Million Verdict Against Johnson & Johnson
Feb 1, 2019 | Periscope News Group
By Christina Morales
Suzanne Emmet, 60, recently won her case against Johnson & Johnson and their subsidiary Ethicon in a battle concerning the injuries Emmet sustained as the result of vaginal mesh. -
**Breaking News * Emmet Mesh Case – $41 Million Jury Verdict! Meshes are Defective!
Jan 31, 2019 | Mesh Medical Device News Desk
By Jane Akre
Ethicon has been slammed with $41 million verdict in a Philadelphia product liability case over three of its popular pelvic meshes. -
Ethicon Mesh Trial Yields $41 Million Jury Verdict
Jan 31, 2019 | Law.com
By Max Mitchell
A jury has awarded $41 million to a woman who underwent nine surgeries to treat injuries she allegedly sustained as a result of defective transvaginal mesh. -
Lancaster woman wins $41 million in lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson for injuries sustained from vaginal mesh device
Jan 31, 2019 | FOX43
A Lancaster woman was awarded $41 million, including $25 million in punitive damages, by a Philadelphia jury for injuries she suffered from a vaginal mesh device designed and marketed by a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, her attorney announced Thursday. -
Pennsylvania woman wins $41 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson
Jan 31, 2019 | Philly.com
By Catherine Dunn
Suzanne Emmett went through surgery after surgery to try to get rid of the discomfort, bleeding, infections, painful sex, and other symptoms from the vaginal mesh implanted inside of her in 2007. -
Lancaster woman's lawsuit results in $41 million verdict against subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson
Feb 1, 2019 | Lancaster Online
By Heather Stauffer
A Lancaster woman won a $41 million verdict Thursday in a lawsuit against Ethicon Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
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Pelvic Mesh Lead Attorneys Stand to Get $550M
Jan 31, 2019 | Bloomberg Law
By Julie Steinberg
Plaintiffs’ leadership attorneys in federal pelvic mesh multidistrict litigation stand to gain an estimated $550 million for their work, according to a recent order by the court overseeing the seven separate proceedings.
The attorneys are entitled to 5 percent of what’s expected to be $11 billion in settlements and judgments from Boston Scientific Corp., J&J unit Ethicon Inc., and other mesh manufacturers, Judge Joseph R. Goodwin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia said Jan. 30.
Goodwin granted the attorneys’ request that 5 percent of settlements and judgments go into a common benefit fund to compensate attorneys for work used by all plaintiffs.
Here each proceeding involves one pelvic mesh maker.
There are about 104,000 plaintiffs, led by a 61-member steering committee, the order said.
“As a result of work by the PSC, plaintiffs have been able to file claims in the seven actions and use the already-developed pretrial materials to seek relatively quick resolution of their cases,” the court said.
Tens of thousands of cases have already resolved, for a total of $7.25 billion, the court said. Some $366 million has already been paid into the common benefit fund.
Plaintiffs stand to recover an additional $3.75 billion, for a total of $11 billion, court said.
The leadership attorneys had to pay tens of millions of dollars to fund the litigation, the court said.
The 5 percent figure is in line with common benefit awards in other large multidistrict proceedings, the court said.
Plaintiffs’ leadership attorneys were awarded 6.5 percent of the $4.85 billion Vioxx settlement, and 4.3 percent of a $13 billion deal in the Deepwater Horizon proceedings, the court said.
The court noted that it isn’t making a determination on the reasonableness of awards to any particular law firms at this time.
The case is In re Bos. Scientific Corp., Pelvic Repair Sys. Prods. Liab. Litig., 2019 BL 30379, S.D. W.Va., MDL No. 2326, 1/30/19.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/product-liability-and-toxics-law/pelvic-mesh-lead-attorneys-stand-to-get-550m
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Judge awards plaintiffs’ attorneys $366 million in Boston Sci pelvic mesh cases
Jan 31, 2019 | Mass Device
By Nancy Crotti
Attorneys representing thousands of plaintiffs who sued Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) over alleged pelvic mesh injuries will receive $366 million, or 5% of the total recoveries in the cases.
U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Goodwin in the Southern District of West Virginia wrote in a pretrial order that plaintiffs’ attorneys were “required to spend tens of millions of dollars without guarantee of success” over nine years, representing 104,000 patients.
“Tens of thousands of cases have been resolved, for a total sum to date of $7.25 billion,” Goodwin wrote, adding that not all cases have been resolved. “These costs continue but are a small part of what the common benefit fund was designed to compensate.”
The court in Charleston, W.Va. has overseen seven multidistrict litigation (MDL) cases rolled into what Goodwin characterized as “super-mega-fund litigation.” A committee of plaintiffs’ attorneys appointed to calculate costs petitioned for the 5% sum to be set aside for their colleagues whose work benefited multiple plaintiffs.
“Given the comparable recoveries and awards in similar-sized MDLs, and that 5% of $11 billion is reasonably comparable under all the circumstances with other MDL common benefit fund awards, the court finds the 5% benchmark for the (committee’s) Petition is very reasonable,” Goodwin wrote. “This litigation is not only one of the largest – if not the largest – mass tort product liability litigations in this nation’s history, but it is the only mass tort products liability litigation in this country that has involved multiple related MDLs, each involving multiple products, coordinated before the same court simultaneously.”
Boston Scientific has won other cases recently, including one in June 2018, in which a jury found that the Marlborough, Mass.-based company was not negligent in the design of its Pinnacle and Obtryx pelvic mesh products and did not fail to warn patients of the risks associated with the meshes, according to court documents.
Boston Sci’s pelvic mesh products drew worldwide scrutiny in 2018 after being covered in a 60 Minutes episode airing claims that the company knowingly purchased inauthentic Chinese plastic materials to make them. The company countered that the 60 Minutes report contained “completely false claims,” and that the story was “irresponsible and misleading.”
Boston Scientific declined to comment on the attorneys’ fees order.
https://www.massdevice.com/judge-awards-plaintiffs-attorneys-366-million-in-boston-sci-pelvic-mesh-cases/
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UPDATE: Philly jury hits J&J’s Ethicon with $41m judgment in pelvic mesh case
Jan 31, 2019 | Mass Device
By Fink Densford
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary Ethicon has been hit with a $41 million verdict in a pelvic mesh product liability suit in Philadelphia, according to a report from the Mesh News Desk.
A jury in Philadelphia found that Ethicon’s Gynemesh, Prolift and TVT-O meshes were defective, and that the company was negligent in manufacturing the devices, according to the report.
The plaintiff, Suzanne Emmett, was implanted with a Prolift pelvic mesh to treat pelvic organ prolapse, a TVT-O mesh as a treatment for incontinence and a Gynemesh implant, according to the Mesh News Desk report.
The verdict includes $25 million in punitive damages, $15 million in compensation and $1 million to Emmett’s husband, according to the report.
A spokesperson for Ethicon said in an email to MassDevice.com that it intends to appeal the decision and that it stands by its pelvic mesh products.
The company said that it believes that the decision contradicts evidence that its pelvic mesh devices were properly designed, and that it appropriately informed surgeons of known risks.
“Pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence are serious and debilitating conditions with limited treatment options. Scientists from around the world who have conducted and reviewed independent research on pelvic mesh agree it is an important treatment option for some women. All surgeries to treat these conditions have risks. While we empathize with those who have experienced complications, many women with pelvic mesh see an improvement in their day to day lives,” Edwards said in its statement.
Last November, a state judge in Pennsylvania ordered a new trial in a suit alleging a that a woman was injured by Ethicon’s TVT-Secur pelvic mesh implant.
https://www.massdevice.com/philly-jury-hits-jjs-ethicon-with-41m-judgment-in-pelvic-mesh-case/
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J&J's Ethicon Slammed With $41M Verdict In Philly Mesh Case
Jan 31, 2019 | Law 360
By Matt Fair
A Philadelphia jury tagged Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon Inc. with a $41 million verdict on Thursday after agreeing that defects in a pelvic mesh implant manufactured by the company left a woman with permanent injuries after the product sawed into her vagina.
The jurors credited claims from Suzanne Emmet and her husband, Michael, that Ethicon had negligently designed the mesh implants at issue in the case and had failed to provide proper warnings that the devices could erode through soft tissue in the pelvis and cause permanent scarring and other injuries.
Emmet’s is the eighth case over mesh-related injuries that Ethicon has faced in Philadelphia County since December 2015, and it is the sixth to end in a damage award against the company.
The award handed down on Thursday brings the grand total of damages Ethicon has faced in Philadelphia to more than $145 million.
Approximately 90 mesh cases remain pending in Philadelphia County as part of a mass tort program, while Ethicon has faced thousands of claims in a federal multidistrict litigation program in West Virginia.
“This is an important case because it demonstrates that when the evidence is marshalled it come out overwhelmingly in favor of the plaintiffs,” said Thomas Kline, an attorney with Kline & Specter LLP representing Emmet and her husband. “There were very devastating injuries caused to Suzanne Emmet in this case, as there have been injures caused to tens of thousands of other women who have used these products.”
Emmet, who filed suit in July 2013, experienced severe complications after receiving three mesh implants to treat urinary stress incontinence and a condition in which both her bladder and rectum were sagging against her vagina.
But in the weeks after receiving the implants in May 2007, her attorneys said Emmet began to experience complications as a portion of one of the devices eroded into her vagina.
While Emmet underwent a corrective procedure, her attorneys said the problems continued to repeatedly recur.
In total, Emmet underwent nine surgeries and almost a dozen chemical cauterizations to address 14 mesh erosions she experienced after being implanted, according to her lawyers.
In closing arguments in the case Wednesday, Kline described Emmet’s ordeal with the mesh implant as “hell.”
He urged jurors to hold the company accountable for what he said was a lack of clinical trials before putting the implants on the market.
And jurors took the message to heart, awarding $25 million in punitive damages as part of their verdict on Thursday. The verdict also included $15 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in damages to Emmet's husband for loss of consortium.
Emmet and her husband thanked the jurors one by one as they filed past them on their way out of the courtroom after returning their verdict, and some members of the panel stopped to hug her.
The defense had attempted to argue that the risks of mesh devices were well-known to Emmet’s implanting physicians at the time she received them, and that — despite the complications — they had done their job in treating the woman’s organ prolapse and incontinence.
They had also attempted to argue that Emmet had waited too long to file her lawsuit, as she should’ve realized by 2009 at the latest — by which time she’d experienced several erosions — that there might have been a problem with her mesh.
Ethicon said in statement that it stood by its products.
"Ethicon intends to appeal this verdict as we believe it contradicts the evidence that the products were properly designed and that the company appropriately informed surgeons of known risks. Importantly, the jury found that the devices performed as surgeons expected," spokeswoman Mindy Tinsley said. "Ethicon stands by, and will continue to defend, our pelvic mesh products in litigation."
Meanwhile, while Ethicon has settled some of the cases against it in the MDL program in West Virginia, Kline said his firm would continue trying mesh cases one-by-one in Philadelphia.
"We have every intention of continuing to try these cases one at a time against Johnson & Johnson," he said.
Emmet and her husband, Michael, are represented by Kila Baldwin, Thomas Kline, Elia Robertson and Thomas Bosworth of Kline & Specter PC.
Ethicon is represented by Anita Modak-Truran of Butler Snow LLP; Tarek Ismail of Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum LLP; and Kenneth Murphy, D. Alicia Hickok, Melissa Merk and Molly Flynn of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.
The case is Suzanne Emmet et al. v. Ethicon Inc. et al., case number 130701495, before the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.
https://www.law360.com/articles/1124126/j-j-s-ethicon-slammed-with-41m-verdict-in-philly-mesh-case
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Vaginal Mesh Survivor Wins $41 Million Verdict Against Johnson & Johnson
Feb 1, 2019 | Periscope News Group
By Christina Morales
Suzanne Emmet, 60, recently won her case against Johnson & Johnson and their subsidiary Ethicon in a battle concerning the injuries Emmet sustained as the result of vaginal mesh. The Philadelphia jury agreed upon a $41 million verdict – including $25 million in punitive damages – to pay for Emmet’s incurred bills and suffering. So far, Ethicon has had to pay $145 million in damages to plaintiffs in Philadelphia alone.
In May 2007, Emmet underwent surgery involving three mesh implants to help with her stress urinary incontinence which was the result of her bladder and rectum sagging into her vagina. The mesh was intended to support these organs to increase bladder control. Unfortunately, within just a few weeks, the mesh started to erode and Emmet began to experience complications. According to World News, “she needed nine revision surgeries and has been left struggling to cope with her pain after the implant perforated her vagina… the mesh had cut through into her vagina and since then has resurfaced more than a dozen times, with surgeons removing it piece by piece… Her husband’s penis was scratched by the mesh during sex, which he likened to ‘barbed wire’. Emmet says she suffers painful bladder contractions, urge incontinence and that her sex life has been affected.”
To try to fix the mesh complications, “Emmet underwent nine surgeries and almost a dozen chemical cauterizations to address 14 mesh erosions she experienced after being implanted,” states Law 360.
The jury’s decision in favor of Emmet hinged on two critical factors: 1) Ethicon failed to complete the proper clinical trials to ensure that this medical device was safe before putting it on the market and 2) Ethicon failed to warn Emmet that the device could possibly erode and migrate causing permanent damage.
If you’ve had complications due to faulty vaginal mesh, clearly you’re not alone. Some studies have even shown that 1 in 15 women may require full or partial removal of the implant. Evidence has also surfaced that Johnson & Johnson employees were hesitant about the safety of vaginal mesh and suspected that it could turn “hard as a rock” and roll up like a “folded potato chip” inside patients. They even discussed how “shrinkage of the mesh may lead to pain”. Even with these concerns, mesh was still put on the market without further testing.
https://www.periscopegroup.com/transvaginal-mesh/philadelphia-verdict-vaginal-mesh
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**Breaking News * Emmet Mesh Case – $41 Million Jury Verdict! Meshes are Defective!
Jan 31, 2019 | Mesh Medical Device News Desk
By Jane Akre
Ethicon has been slammed with $41 million verdict in a Philadelphia product liability case over three of its popular pelvic meshes.
The jury agreed that Gynemesh, Prolift and TVT-O were defective, which led to her injuries and that the company was negligent in manufacturing the medical devices.
Suzanne Emmett was implanted with a Prolift pelvic mesh used to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP). The Prolift is made by Ethicon (Johnson & Johnson) as was the TVT-O she also received as a treatment for incontinence along with a Gynemesh implant.
The verdict includes $25 million in punitive damages, $15 million in compensation with $1 million going to her husband for loss of consortium.
The trial team won on the negligence claim which includes design and strict product liability.
Under Pennsylvania law there are two ways to win a failure to warn claim – Emmet won under the risk-utility portion as opposed to failure to meet consumer expectations.
The trial which began in November, resumed earlier this month.
TVT-O has been found to be defectively designed in at least two previous cases- Huskey and Batiste.
Prolift has been found to be defective in its design in previous mesh trials – Hrymoc, Beltz, Hammons and Kaiser.
Ms. Emmett claims her injuries are permanent, and she suffered mental and physical pain, an inability to have sexual relations, as well as economic loss. The mesh allegedly eroded into her vagina and left a scar plate and vaginal deformation. She experienced frequent and chronic urinary tract infection and inflammation.
For 30 years Emmett has worked handling workers’ compensation cases for an insurance company. She still goes to work.
She is represented by Kila Baldwin and Elia Robertson of Kline Specter.
Attorneys for Ethicon are Tarek Ismail, Anita Modak Truran and Joe O’Neil.
There is no word yet on whether the company plans an appeal, but that is customarily what happens.
Of the seven pelvic mesh product liability trials so far in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas- Plaintiffs have won five totaling $105.16 million.
Baldwin’s next trial for plaintiff Ms. A. Sutphin will be in April in Charleston, West Virginia, home of multidistrict litigation facing seven different manufacturers of polypropylene pelvic meshes. At one time there were in excess of 104,000 cases filed there from all over the country.
Sutphin has sued Johnson & Johnson and its Ethicon division over the TVT-O implant she received.
https://www.meshmedicaldevicenewsdesk.com/breaking-news-emmet-mesh-case-41-million-jury-verdict-meshes-are-defective/
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Ethicon Mesh Trial Yields $41 Million Jury Verdict
Jan 31, 2019 | Law.com
By Max Mitchell
A jury has awarded $41 million to a woman who underwent nine surgeries to treat injuries she allegedly sustained as a result of defective transvaginal mesh.
The 12-member Philadelphia jury in Emmett v. Ethicon rendered the verdict Thursday in Judge Kenneth Powell’s courtroom following a five-week trial. The award includes $15 million in compensatory damages, $25 million in punitive damages and $1 million on a loss of consortium claim.
The verdict is the latest in a wave of multimillion-dollar verdicts juries have awarded over Ethicon’s pelvic mesh products over the past few years
Kline & Specter attorneys Thomas R. Kline and Kila Baldwin co-tried the case for plaintiff Suzanne Emmett, and attorney Tarek Ismail of Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum, Anita Modak-Truran of Butler Snow and Joseph O’Neil of Campbell Conroy & O’Neil were defense counsel for Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary.
Following the verdict, Kline said “overwhelming” evidence convinced the jury.
“Evidence in the case was overwhelming as to the product defect, and the testimony as to the damages which were caused to Suzanne Emmett were devastating,” Kline said. ”The case involves one of thousands of women who were injured by grotesquely defective products, many of whom have entered into de minimis settlements with Johnson & Johnson. This case should be seen through the lens of how a jury views their product, as well as the monetary value of the injury.”
Mindy Tinsley, a spokeswoman for Ethicon, said the company plans to appeal the verdict, adding that the products were properly designed and the company adequately warned surgeons about the risks.
“Importantly, the jury found that the devices performed as surgeons expected,” she said in the statement. “Ethicon stands by, and will continue to defend, our pelvic mesh products in litigation.”
According to Kline, Emmett, 57, had three pelvic mesh devices implanted after she suffered organ prolapse. The mesh, however, ended up repeatedly eroding into her vagina, leaving her with urinary incontinence, painful bladder contractions and pain during sex, Kline said. According to Kline, she underwent nine surgical procedures and underwent more than 40 nerve treatments, including injections. Kline also said the husband’s loss of consortium claim was bolstered by evidence that a piece of mesh cut Michael Emmett’s penis “like a piece of barbed wire” during sex.
The injuries, according to Kline, are expected to be permanent.
Kline also noted that the defense contended the case was brought outside the statute of limitations, since the mesh was installed in 2007 and her lawsuit was filed in 2013.
Emmett’s case is one out of nearly 90 cases pending in Philadelphia and more than 33,000 pending across the country stemming from pelvic mesh devices and allegations that the mesh-makers failed to properly warn about the risks of the devices.
At one point, with more than 100,000 pelvic mesh cases pending in a federal multidistrict litigation against six manufacturers, the pelvic mesh litigation was one of the largest-ever consolidated matters, attorneys said.
The cases, however, have recently begun to settle in large batches. Some attorneys, however–including Kline & Specter’s Shanin Specter—have been critical of those settlements, claiming many lawyers took on too many cases and, as a result, were forced to settle for small amounts.
https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/2019/01/31/philadelphia-jury-awards-41m-verdict-to-woman-who-needed-9-surgeries-to-fix-defective-pelvic-mesh-399-21564/?slreturn=20190101030530
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Jan 31, 2019 | FOX43
A Lancaster woman was awarded $41 million, including $25 million in punitive damages, by a Philadelphia jury for injuries she suffered from a vaginal mesh device designed and marketed by a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, her attorney announced Thursday.
The verdict was the sixth multi-million dollar award in a vaginal mesh product trial in Philadelphia.
Suzanne Emmett, 57, was implanted in May 2007 with a mesh product made by Ethicon Inc. to relieve organ prolapse and urinary incontinence.
Not long afterward, her attorney said, she began experiencing pain and discomfort and underwent corrective surgery to have the mesh removed.
In later years, she had six more revision surgeries but those operations also failed to relieve symptoms that included infections, inflammation, bleeding, pain and dyspareunia, or pain during sexual intercourse, due to erosion and exposure of the mesh.
Her lawsuit claimed that the plastic-like mesh had a high failure rate and caused severe and irreversible injuries to many woman. More than 100,000 women have reportedly filed lawsuits claiming injuries due to vaginal mesh products made by several companies, including J&J.
Emmett’s suit claimed that J&J misrepresented the safety and efficacy of their vaginal mesh products and underreported and withheld information about the propensity of their vaginal mesh products to fail and cause injury and complications.
“The J&J defendants,” the complaint stated, “have known, continue to know, and at all times had reason to know that their disclosures to the FDA were and are incomplete and misleading.”
The jury unanimously awarded $15 million in compensatory damages to Suzanne Emmett, $1 million to her husband, Michael, for loss of consortium, and $25 million in punitive damages.
“This jury rightfully compensated one of the thousands of Johnson & Johnson victims terribly injured by its mesh products and sent a strong deterrent message through its punitive damages verdict,” Tom Kline and Kila Baldwin, attorneys for Kline & Specter, PC, who tried the case, said in a statement following the verdict.
The Philadelphia-based law firm has won among the largest verdicts against manufacturers of vaginal mesh products, including a $57.1 million verdict – $7.1 million in compensatory and $50 million in punitive damages — in September 2017 against Ethicon for a Pennsylvania woman.
In others, Kline & Specter attorneys have won jury verdicts of $20 million, $13.5 million, $12.5 million and $2.16 million for women injured by the vaginal mesh devices.
https://fox43.com/2019/01/31/lancaster-woman-wins-41-million-in-lawsuit-against-johnson-johnson-for-injuries-sustained-from-vaginal-mesh-device/
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Pennsylvania woman wins $41 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson
Jan 31, 2019 | Philly.com
By Catherine Dunn
Suzanne Emmett went through surgery after surgery to try to get rid of the discomfort, bleeding, infections, painful sex, and other symptoms from the vaginal mesh implanted inside of her in 2007. But the procedures couldn’t fix what the plastic-like mesh had done to her life, according to a lawsuit that claimed the mesh had a high failure rate, and caused irreversible injuries to many women.
On Thursday, a Philadelphia jury awarded Emmett, 57, and her husband, Michael, a $41 million verdict in a case they brought against medical device maker Ethicon, and its corporate parent, Johnson & Johnson. The amount included $25 million in punitive damages.
“This jury rightfully compensated one of the thousands of Johnson & Johnson victims terribly injured by its mesh products and sent a strong deterrent message through its punitive damages verdict,” Emmett’s attorneys Tom Kline and Kila Baldwin, of Kline & Specter, said in a statement.
It’s one of six multi-million dollar verdicts the firm has won in vaginal mesh injury cases, including a $57.1 million verdict against Ethicon in September 2017.
Johnson & Johnson faces 37,400 lawsuits related to pelvic meshes, used to treat urinary incontinence, according to the company’s last quarterly filing with securities regulators. The filing lists the suits among the company’s “most significant” product liability cases.
Emmett, a resident of Lancaster County, said in the suit that Johnson & Johnson withheld information about the failure rate of its vaginal mesh products, and knew that its “disclosures to the FDA were and are incomplete and misleading.”
Johnson & Johnson said it stands by its pelvic mesh products, and plans to appeal the verdict in this case. “We believe it contradicts the evidence that the products were properly designed and that the company appropriately informed surgeons of known risks,” Ethicon spokesperson Mindy Tinsley said. She added: “While we empathize with those who have experienced complications, many women with pelvic mesh see an improvement in their day-to-day lives.”
The company is also facing backlash over allegations that its talc powder causes ovarian cancer because of asbestos contamination. In a lawsuit filed by 22 women, a circuit court in Missouri ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $4 billion in damages — one of the largest personal-injury awards, according to the New York Times.
The company — which disputes claims that it has known about asbestos contamination — is facing at least 11,700 talc powder-related lawsuits.
http://www.philly.com/business/health/vaginal-mesh-johnsonjohnson-philadelphia-jury-million-award-20190131.html
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Lancaster woman's lawsuit results in $41 million verdict against subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson
Feb 1, 2019 | Lancaster Online
By Heather Stauffer
A Lancaster woman won a $41 million verdict Thursday in a lawsuit against Ethicon Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
Kline & Specter PC, the Philadelphia-based firm that represented 57-year-old Suzanne Emmett, said her case was the sixth vaginal mesh product trial in which it has won a defendant a multimillion-dollar award.
The jury unanimously awarded $15 million in compensatory damages to Emmett, $1 million to her husband Michael, and $25 million in punitive damages, according to the firm.
Her lawsuit accused the company of misrepresenting the safety and efficacy of the product designed to relieve organ prolapse and urinary incontinence.
It was implanted in her in 2007 and later removed, but six subsequent surgeries failed to relieve failed to relieve symptoms it caused, including infections, inflammation, bleeding and pain, according to the firm.
In a statement following the verdict, Emmett’s attorneys, Tom Kline and Kila Baldwin, said the jury “rightfully compensated one of the thousands of Johnson & Johnson victims terribly injured by its mesh products and sent a strong deterrent message through its punitive damages verdict.”
An emailed statement from Ethicon said it intends to appeal the verdict “as we believe it contradicts the evidence that the products were properly designed and that the company appropriately informed surgeons of known risks.”
“All surgeries to treat these conditions have risks,” the statement continued. “While we empathize with those who have experienced complications, many women with pelvic mesh see an improvement in their day to day lives.”
Johnson & Johnson is the world's biggest maker of health care products, with revenue of $20.39 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to a recent Associated Press report.
https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/lancaster-woman-s-lawsuit-results-in-million-verdict-against-subsidiary/article_405c129e-2598-11e9-9a2b-b7bc21f7e7ba.html
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