According to sources, Diane Bellew’s federal Ethicon transvaginal mesh lawsuit settled on the fifth day of trial against Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon subsidiary.
This settlement comes hot on the heels of a state court jury verdict which hit Ethicon squarely between the eyes, with a $5.7 million verdict in a vaginal mesh lawsuit in California.
In the latest of a series of trials held in state and federal court, the jury awarded $5.7 million verdict against Johnson and Johnson (J&J) and its Ethicon subsidiary, over Ethicon’s Gynecare TVT Abbrevo device.
Much bruised by the recent California verdict, the medical device manufacturer decided to throw in the towel, raise the white flag and settle a federal bellwether trial underway in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
J&J is the world’s largest pharmaceutical and medical device maker and it is facing loss after loss in the transvaginal mesh wars. J&J should do the right thing and announce a global settlement.
But to date they have expressed arrogance, hubris and recalcitrance in settling these cases. They think as a huge multibillion dollar company that they can grind down and wear out the plaintiffs in a war of attrition but the juries are not easily fooled, they will demonstrate their anger with larger and larger awards and be more inclined to award punitive damages. They think that they are too big to fail.
They should remember and take note that “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.“
The CEO and the board of directors should take note of the rising anger that permeates this litigation. We, among other law firms, have been representing and know first hand injuries and damages these women have endured for the past several years and we are sending a strong and unequivocal message, do the right thing, face the music and settle now.
Transvaginal Mesh and Bladder Sling Debacle
There are more than 75,000 vaginal mesh lawsuits grinding away at Ethicon and other manufacturers of similar mesh and bladder sling products, including Boston Scientific, C.R. Bard, American Medical Systems (AMS), Coloplast, Cook Medical, Neomedic and others.
These complaints blame mesh and bladder sling design defects for serious painful and debilitating complications from vaginal mesh, including repeated infections, erosion of the mesh through the vagina and perforation problems, which often result in the need for surgical removal.
Federal Multidistrict Litigation
The mesh and bladder sling cases are consolidated into different multidistrict litigations (MDLs), which are centralized before U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin for pretrial proceedings in the Southern District of West Virginia.
The mesh and bladder sling device manufacturers have been pummeled in this litigation, with juries awarding substantial damages, and including multimillion dollar punitive damage awards designed to punish the manufacturer.
Avalanche of Mesh Cases
According to the latest data, Judge Goodwin is overseeing 10,348 Bard Avaulta mesh, 23,523 Ethicon vaginal mesh, 19,159 American Medical Systems (AMS) mesh , 15,278 Boston Scientific mesh, 1,830 Coloplast vaginal mesh, 289 Cook Medical vaginal mesh and 83 Neomedic vaginal mesh lawsuits.
AMS is the only major company that has settled its vaginal mesh lawsuits, agreeing to pay about $1.6 billion to resolve more than 20,000 lawsuits.
Shezad Malik is an Internal Medicine and Cardiology specialist, a Texas Medical Doctor (retired) and Defective Medical Device and Dangerous Drug Attorney. Dr. Shezad Malik Law Firm has offices based in Fort Worth and Dallas and represents people who have suffered catastrophic and serious personal injuries including wrongful death, caused by the negligence or recklessness of others.
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