New Jersey trial Judge Carol Higbee denied Johnson & Johnson and subsidiary Ethicon’s motion to throw out the 11 million dollar jury verdict from last February’s trial. The jury in the Linda Gross v. Ethicon trial awarded $3.35 million in compensatory damages and $7.76 in punitive damages after finding that the manufacturer of the transvaginal mesh was negligent and that the product was a defective product under products liability laws.
The jury trial which took four weeks involved the Gynecare Prolift Pelvic Mesh Kit. This type of mesh is marketed to treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence in women. In 2012, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) became concerned the high rate of injuries and adverse outcomes from transvaginal mesh products and issued a number orders that medical device manufacturers increase post market surveillance of adverse events for these products.
Many of these product have now been recalled and there are tens of thousands of lawsuits pending around the U.S. brought by women who have suffered pain, erosion of the mesh into their bladders and vaginas and have had to endure multiple surgeries to remove pieces of the mesh.
Another manufacturer of pelvic mesh, American Medical Systems, AMS, has agreed to a an 830 million dollar settlement of many of the lawsuits brought against AMS for similar injuries.
Saunders & Walker is handling a number of these cases against many of the manufacturers of these mesh products.