J&J Wins First Ethicon Vaginal Mesh Lawsuit Trial

A West Virginia federal judge has ruled in favor of Johnson & Johnson in the first vaginal mesh lawsuit to go to trial in multidistrict litigation where thousands of lawsuits alleging injuries from Ethicon transvaginal mesh products are pending.

The motion was granted by U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin in favor of Johnson & Johnson and its Ethicon Inc. unit, which makes the Gynecare TVT pelvic mesh product at the center of the massive litigation.

An order was not published with the ruling and no explanation has been offered yet as to why Goodwin ruled in favor of Johnson & Johnson and not the plaintiff.

Ethicon released a statement on Feb. 18, the day the ruling was issued, saying that according to Goodwin, the plaintiff in this first bellwether case, Carolyn Lewis, had not presented enough evidence to prove that her injuries were due to defects in Ethicon’s TVT pelvic mesh product, which is specifically used for treating stress urinary incontinence.

Stress urinary incontinence is the leaking of urine when there is a “stress event,” which can include coughing, sneezing, laughing or lifting — in other words, anything that puts pressure on the the abdomen. This occurs as the result of weakened pelvic muscles and connective tissue that support the bladder and urethra. There can be several causes of SUI including pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, obesity, smoking, and previous pelvic surgery. Over 15 million Americans suffer from SUI.

“This is a sound decision by the court,” said Ethicon spokesman Matthew Johnson. “While we are always concerned when a patient experiences an adverse medical condition, TVT continues to be a safe and effective option for women suffering from the debilitating effects of stress urinary incontinence.”

Johnson & Johnson argued in the five-day trial that began on Feb. 10 that the plaintiff had not provided enough evidence to prove there was a design defect in the Ethicon TVT pelvic mesh implant, which she claimed caused her chronic pain. The court had already tossed the failure-to-warn, breach of warranty, and manufacturing charges in a summary judgement issued in January.

The defendants said that the negligent design charge didn’t survive because there was two year period in which she should have discovered her injury before 2012 when she filed her lawsuit.

On Feb. 10, before the trial began, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl Eifert said that Johnson & Johnson had not kept the appropriate documents about Lewis’s treatment in which Ethicon’s TVT was used, and that the records between Lewis’s doctor and the Ethicon sales representative he was communicating with about the vaginal mesh product were destroyed. Eifert said that this might be relevant information for the jury to know about.

However, on Feb. 14, Eifert said that the spoliation allegations could be excluded in a motion she granted from the defendants.

Johnson & Johnson had said that what the sales representative had told Lewis’s doctor was irrelevant, since the failure to warn charges had been tossed.

The plaintiffs are represented by D. Renee Baggett and Bryan Aylstock of Aylstock Witkin Kreis & Overholtz PLLC and Thomas P. Cartmell of Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP.

The lawsuit is Lewis v. Ethicon, Case No. 2:12-cv-04301, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

Thousands of Ethicon Vaginal Mesh Lawsuits Remain

Despite ruling in Johnson & Johnson’s favor, thousands of vaginal mesh lawsuits remain in the Ethicon MDL. These cases will each get their day in court, and new vaginal mesh lawsuits are being filed into the Ethicon MDL every day by women who claim they had to undergo surgery to remove the defective pelvic mesh implant.

If you had revision surgery to repair damage caused by vaginal mesh, or you have surgery scheduled, you may be able to take legal action against the device manufacturer. These companies have already paid out millions of dollars in vaginal mesh lawsuit settlements and are continuing to settle cases. Don’t delay – see if you qualify to pursue compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, and other damages by filling out the short form at the Transvaginal Mesh, Bladder Sling Class Action Lawsuit Investigation.