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Ethicon Settles Bellwether Pelvic Mesh Case Amid Jury Trial
Mar 10, 2015 | Law360
By Kurt Orzeck
Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon Inc. has settled a bellwether case in multidistrict litigation over alleged transvaginal mesh injuries amid a West Virginia federal jury trial and after another jury issued a $5.7 million verdict in a related suit, an Ethicon spokesman confirmed Tuesday. -
J&J's Ethicon settles Prolift pelvic mesh bellwether
Mar 11, 2015 | Mass Device
By Brad Perriello
Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE:JNJ) Ethicon subsidiary agreed to settle a bellwether lawsuit filed over its Prolift pelvic mesh product, the company confirmed today. -
Here Is How Much Lawsuits Cost J&J Every Year
Mar 11, 2015 | Forbes Online
By Trefis Team
Johnson & Johnson was recently asked by a jury in the state of California to pay $5.7 million in damages to settle a lawsuit pertaining to transvaginal meshes.
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Ethicon Settles Bellwether Pelvic Mesh Case Amid Jury Trial
Mar 10, 2015 | Law360
By Kurt Orzeck
Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon Inc. has settled a bellwether case in multidistrict litigation over alleged transvaginal mesh injuries amid a West Virginia federal jury trial and after another jury issued a $5.7 million verdict in a related suit, an Ethicon spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
Ethicon spokesman Matthew Johnson said the company and plaintiff Dianne M. Bellew had agreed to resolve the matter, although he declined to provide any details of the deal. On Friday, the fifth day of the trial, jurors were told the case had concluded, according to a district judge daybook entry from that day.
Bellew claimed she suffered inflammation, chronic pain and other complications as a result of a surgically implanted mesh product manufactured by Ethicon. She allegedly had four subsequent operations to remove and revise the mesh, according to court papers.
The bellwether case resides in one of seven massive MDLs assigned to U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation concerning the use of transvaginal surgical mesh to treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, court filings said. More than 70,000 cases were consolidated into the MDLs.
Tens of thousands of plaintiffs have sued pelvic mesh makers over complications with the products, alleging the mesh, which is put in place to manage stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, is responsible for a litany of injuries.
In West Virginia, a federal jury in September hit Ethicon with a $3.3 million verdict over its TVT-O transvaginal sling, finding in favor of plaintiff Jo Huskey on all counts, including strict liability, design defect, failure to warn and negligence. Punitive damages were not awarded.
And other companies that make pelvic mesh products have also been hit with big-dollar verdicts by juries that sided with the plaintiffs who complained of erosion of the mesh that caused severe pain and necessitated more surgeries, among other injuries, court records show.
Boston Scientific Corp. was dinged for $73 million in September by a Texas state jury that found the company’s Obtryx-brand transvaginal sling was defectively designed and caused severe injuries, the company’s first loss in pelvic mesh litigation.
And a West Virginia judge in January refused to dismantle a $2 million verdict against C.R. Bard Inc. despite the company’s protests that the August verdict wasn’t supported by enough evidence.
But Ethicon has had some success in the pelvic mesh litigation. Earlier this month, the Fourth Circuit refused to undo the company’s win in multidistrict litigation, finding that plaintiff Carolyn Lewis hadn’t sufficiently shown that a different warning by Ethicon as to the TVT’s alleged risks would have changed her doctor’s decision to prescribe the device. Lewis had appealed a lower court’s ruling that granted summary judgment to Ethicon on her failure-to-warn claim.
Attorneys for Bellew didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Bellew is represented by Bryan F. Aylstock, Daniel Thornburgh and Renee Baggett of Aylstock Witkin Kreis and Overholtz PLC, Adam M. Slater of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman LLC, and Benjamin H. Anderson of Anderson Law Offices LLC.
Ethicon is represented by Christy D. Jones of Butler Snow LLP and David B. Thomas of Thomas Combs & Spann PLLC.
The case is Dianne M. Bellew v. Ethicon Inc., case number 2:13-cv-22473, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia at Charleston.
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J&J's Ethicon settles Prolift pelvic mesh bellwether
Mar 11, 2015 | Mass Device
By Brad Perriello
Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE:JNJ) Ethicon subsidiary agreed to settle a bellwether lawsuit filed over its Prolift pelvic mesh product, the company confirmed today.
Ethicon spokesman Matthew Johnson confirmed with MassDevice.com that the company agreed to settle with plaintiffs Dianne Bellew and her husband, Dan Bellew.
"The parties have agreed to resolve the matter," Johnson wrote.
The trial had entered its 5th day March 6 when jurors were informed of the settlement at about 11: 30 a.m., according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for Southern West Virginia.
A judge in that court, Judge Joseph Goodwin, has been assigned to oversee more than 70,000 product liability lawsuits filed against a slate of pelvic mesh manufacturers including Ethicon, Bard, BSX and Coloplast.
J&J last week logged a loss and a win in some of the cases brought against Ethicon. In the loss, a California jury hit it with a $5.7 million verdict, finding it liable for design problems and failure to warn plaintiff Coleen Perry about the Abbrevo mesh.
But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld Ethicon's year-old win in the 1st pelvic mesh bellwether to go to trial. Goodwin had issued a directed verdict Feb. 18, 2014, ordering the case dismissed and stricken from the record.
Last September Ethicon vowed to appeal a $3.3 million loss involving its TVT-O transvaginal sling.
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Here Is How Much Lawsuits Cost J&J Every Year
Mar 11, 2015 | Forbes Online
By Trefis Team
Johnson & Johnson was recently asked by a jury in the state of California to pay $5.7 million in damages to settle a lawsuit pertaining to transvaginal meshes. Less than a month ago, it was announced that Boston Scientific will pay $600 million to J&J to settle a lawsuit related to the acquisition of Guidant Corp. At the end of 2013, a court ruled that J&J will have to pay $2.5 billion in damages to settle hip implant lawsuits. While in some cases the company has won, its financial statements suggest that the net outflow of cash pertaining to litigation expenses is significant. We usually don’t price in the impact of future lawsuits while estimating future cash flows for a company, or in this case J&J, due to the unpredictable nature of court cases. However, if history were to repeat itself and the lawsuits continue, pricing their impact would imply chipping off 7% to 8% of J&J’s value. Clearly, these lawsuits are expensive. However, we believe that their incidence, and net costs may go down going forward.
Our current price estimate for Johnson & Johnson stands at $101, which is at par with the market price.
J&J’s litigation expenses have averaged roughly $1.28 billion annually, and there is a clear pattern in the lawsuits filed against the company. Most of them seem to be related its medical devices & diagnostics subsidiaries. However, J&J has been divesting its medical devices & diagnostics assets. Last year, the company sold its diagnostics unit, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, to the Carlyle group for around $4 billion. The divestitures may continue and this year it could be Cordis that is to go. In fact, the wheel was set in motion last year when The Wall Street Journal reported that Cordis’ sale process is at an early stage. Medical devices & diagnostics business’ growth has slowed down significantly due to strong pricing pressure and competition from lesser known names. As J&J further streamlines its operations and focuses more on growing pharmaceuticals segment, we expect medical devices related litigation expenses to reduce significantly.
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