A jury in South Dakota found that Johnson & Johnson should pay a South Dakota woman $3.35MM for failing to adequately warn her physician regarding the potential dangers of the vaginal mesh implant manufactured by their subsidiary company, Ethicon. The plaintiff in this particular case not only required additional medical treatment but endured 18 operations to repair the damage caused by the product.
This was the first verdict from a group of 1,800 such cases pending in New Jersey against Ethicon and J & J and could have far-reaching implications for thousands of other lawsuits (current estimates indicate 11,000 claims are filed) against other manufacturers for similar products.
Specifically, the jury found that the Gynecare Prolift mesh product was not safe and both J&J and Ethicon were liable for “defective design, manufacture, warnings and instructions” among other things. The product was taken off the U.S. market last year.
A hearing on punitive damages was scheduled for Tuesday, February 26, 2013.
The case is Gross v. Gynecare Inc., Superior Court of Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atl-L-6966-10. Read the entire article here.
Once again, trial lawyers around the country are proving that large corporations cannot and will not put profits ahead of the health and safety of our citizens.
Senior Vice President
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