MIAMI — A federal jury in Florida on Nov. 13, 2014 hit Boston Scientific Corp. with a $26.7 million verdict in a trial that featured four women as plaintiffs. All four testified that they were injured by a defective pelvic mesh implant. The nine-person jury in the defective product trial of the women’s pelvic mesh product made by Boston Scientific decided the four women should receive more than $6 million each for injuries they suffered as a result of the plastic mesh.
All four women suffer permanent damages including chronic pelvic pain, infection, nerve damage, mesh migration. They also face further surgeries which they can only hope will substantially remove the Pinnacle implant, which is intended to be permanent.
The jury awarded plaintiffs Margarita Dortes, Maria Nunez, Juana Betancourt and Amal Eghnayem between $6.5 and $6.7 million each for compensation, but declined to award punitive damages.
Boston Scientific used plastic/polypropylene mesh named “Marlex” to construct its pelvic mesh implants to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI). The Pinnacle Pelvic Floor Mesh Kit, used to treat POP, was the largest of all the mesh kits ever made among all mesh makers, which typically tout smaller meshes with lighter material as superior for their purposes. Boston Scientific voluntarily recalled the Pinnacle Floor Mesh Kit from the market in 2011.
Second Federal Win for Plaintiffs
The Florida ruling is the second federal jury verdict in the massive litigation. Some 100,000 cases have now been filed in federal and state courts across the country. Boston Scientific stated in its last quarterly SEC report that it faces some 23,000 product liability actions regarding its pelvic mesh products in the U.S., UK and Canada.
The Miami jury found Boston Scientific negligent in manufacturing its Pinnacle Pelvic Floor Repair Kit. The jury found the kit unreasonably dangerous to its users, and also found that Boston Scientific failed to warn the women of the kit’s foreseeable risks.
“It’s gratifying to see justice prevail again,” said David Matthews of Matthews & Associates, who won a $73 million verdict in Sept. 2014 for a woman also injured by a Boston Scientific mesh product. “I don’t know every detail of these four cases in Miami, but I know this tragedy continues in appalling numbers, and we will continue to fight for women injured by these awful plastic contraptions.”
Johnson & Johnson lost First Federal Verdict
In the first federal jury verdict in the mesh litigation, jurors in West Virgina awarded $3.27 million in damages against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon. After a two-week trial, jurors awarded damages to a woman injured by a plastic mesh device which her attorneys proved was associated with pain, infection and other side effects.
On Sept. 5, 2014, jurors in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of West Virginia found Johnson & Johnson liable for not only failing to warn patients and their doctors about risks that may stem from the company’s implants, but also for selling defective products. This was the second Johnson & Johnson Ethicon trial in West Virginia federal court, but the first where Judge Joseph Goodwin allowed the jury to reach a verdict.
The plaintiff who won that transvaginal mesh lawsuit was 52 years old when she received the Gynecare TVT-O vaginal mesh device in 2011. She consequently began to suffer pelvic pain. A year after receiving the implant, she and her husband filed a case against Ethicon. The lawyer for the plaintiff said the jury’sr $3.27 million verdict “sends a very clear message to Ethicon that these products and these cases are extremely serious.”
Free Legal Consultation
Transvaginal Mesh lawsuits continue to be filed in state and federal courts across the country. If you or a loved one has been injured by transvaginal mesh implant, contact Matthews & Associates for a free legal consultation.
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by Matthews & Associates
Johnson & Johnson lost First Federal Verdict
In the first federal jury verdict in the mesh litigation, jurors in West Virgina awarded $3.27 million in damages against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon. After a two-week trial, jurors awarded damages to a woman injured by a plastic mesh device which her attorneys proved was associated with pain, infection and other side effects.
On Sept. 5, 2014, jurors in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of West Virginia found Johnson & Johnson liable for not only failing to warn patients and their doctors about risks that may stem from the company’s implants, but also for selling defective products. This was the second Johnson & Johnson Ethicon trial in West Virginia federal court, but the first where Judge Joseph Goodwin allowed the jury to reach a verdict.
The plaintiff who won that transvaginal mesh lawsuit was 52 years old when she received the Gynecare TVT-O vaginal mesh device in 2011. She consequently began to suffer pelvic pain. A year after receiving the implant, she and her husband filed a case against Ethicon. The lawyer for the plaintiff said the jury’sr $3.27 million verdict “sends a very clear message to Ethicon that these products and these cases are extremely serious.”
Free Legal Consultation
Transvaginal Mesh lawsuits continue to be filed in state and federal courts across the country. If you or a loved one has been injured by transvaginal mesh implant, contact Matthews & Associates for a free legal consultation.
