Check Out Our New Forum!
The Your Turn Forum provides a space where people can post questions about mesh and medical device related issues and get advice and support from the Mesh News Desk community.
Join the Discussion!
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas
Mesh Medical Device News Desk, July 19, 2016 ~ The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas has 169 pelvic mesh trials waiting for a date to begin with 14 already scheduled.
Most of the defective product cases name as a defendant Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson.
The Philadelphia Courts of Common Pleas is where Pennsylvania’s trial jurisdiction that have existed since the colonial charter of Pennsylvania.
It is also the home of a state Mass Tort involving pelvic mesh implanted in women to treat incontinence and prolapse.
At the present time there are 169 cases filed awaiting trial. The Master Docket for all pelvic mesh cases was established there in 2014 here.
Fourteen of them have been scheduled for trial. Most name as the defendant, Johnson & Johnson and its medical device subsidiary, Ethicon, while a few mention CR Bard, Boston Scientific and Covidian.
Most of the plaintiffs are represented by Philadelphia law firm Kline & Specter. Attorneys handling these cases are Lee Balefsky and Shanin Specter. So far they have a plaintiff-friendly record.
The Philadelphia Court of Common pleas has seen two pelvic mesh trials so far and both had jury awards for the mesh-injured plaintiffs.
TVT from Meshed Up UK
Carlino v. Ethicon got underway in January of this year. Ms. Carlino had been implanted with a TVT (tension-free vaginal tape) in 2005 and suffered complications. Secant Medical of Perkasie, PA was also named as a defendant because they manufactured and sold the mesh components to J&J.
TVT is still referred by many doctors as the Gold Standard for treating incontinence but Shanin Specter of Kline & Specter said the company relied on biased research and the device was defective. The jury decided TVT was defective, as were the warnings to her doctor.
The jury came back with $13.5 million for Ms. Carlino, which included $10 million in punitive damages.
Prolift mesh kit, Ethicon, J&J
The first mesh case in this jurisdiction, heard in December 2015, Hammons v. Ethicon resulted in a $12.5 million verdict for Patricia Hammons, decided by seven women and five male jurors. That included $7 million in punitive damages, awarded to send a message to the company.
Hammons had been implanted with a Prolift mesh, used to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP).
Prolift has been removed from the market by J&J, but according to the company it was not a product recall but rather based on “commercial viability in light of changing market dynamics and is not related to safety or efficacy.”
Prolift marketing story here.
There are currently 169 cases pending in the mass tort program of this court.
The following have 14 pelvic mesh defective product trials have “Trial Date Certain” listed on the Courts Civil Docket while the remainder wait to be scheduled:
October 11, 2016 – B. Hansen VS Ethicon, Inc. ETAL, Kline & Specter
October 24, 2016 – R. Vanderveer vs Ethicon Women’s Health and Urology, Kline & Specter
December 5, 2016 – S. Beltz vs Ethicon Women’s Health and Urology, Kline & Specter
January 23, 2017 – T. Prochazka v Ethicon Women’s Health and Urology, Kline & Specter
February 6, 2017 – T. Dempsey vs Ethicon Women’s Health and Urology, Kline & Specter
February 6, 2017 – P. Tallo vs Ethicon Women’s Health and Urology, Kline & Specter
February 27, 2016 – S. Sullivan vs Boston Scientific Inc., Kline & Specter
March 13, 2017 – S. Collins vs C.R. Bard Inc, Kline & Specter
March 27, 2017 – C. Veliz vs Johnson & Johnson ETAL, Messa & Associates
April 10, 2017 – M. Engleman vs Gynecare ETAL, Stark & Stark
May 8, 2017 – E. Cederberg-Ebaugh vs Ethicon Women’s Health, Kline & Specter,
May 22, 2017 – K. Adkins vs Johnson & Johnson ETAL, Kline & Specter
June 5, 2017 – D. Hubbard v Ethicon Women’s Health and Urology, Kline & Specter
June 19, 2017 – P. Blockus vs Ethicon Women’s Health and Urology, Kline & Specter
Mark your calendars! Court Watchers would be most appreciated.
New Jersey Litigation
As of July 16, 2016, there are 1,024 cases involving CR Bard and 8887 against Johnson & Johnson filed in New Jersey state court Multicounty Litigation assigned from Atlantic County to Bergen Co. in New Jersey, before Judge Brian Martinotti. See
http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/mass-tort/pelvicmesh/case_list.html
