Lead Counsel Chosen in Transvaginal Mesh Cases

Friday, April 13, 2012 ~ This morning the lead attorneys were chosen who will represent the transvaginal surgical mesh product liability cases consolidated in the Southern District of West Virginia and the Honorable Judge Joseph Goodwin.

Bryan F. Aylstock (Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis, and Overholtz), Henry Garrard (Blasingame, Burch, Garrard, Ashley) and Fred Thompson (Motley Rice) were chosen to be lead counsel representing the consolidated transvaginal mesh lawsuits.

Five additional people are on the Executive Committee and co-lead counsel which include Tom Cartmell, Clayton Clark, Amy Eskin, Derek Potts and Aimee Wagstaff.

The Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC) is a team of attorneys who will oversee the entire litigation process and guide the plaintiffs’ side of the litigation coordinating the large number of lawsuits pending before Judge Goodwin.

In January, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation granted motions to transfer and consolidate the defective product cases filed in federal courts around the country into Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia before Judge Goodwin, already in charge of an MDL involving Avaulta defective mesh (MDL No. 2187).

The consolidated MDLs are Ethicon, Inc (MDL No. 2327), American Medical Systems, Inc. (MDL No. 2325), and Boston Scientific Corp. (MDL No. 2326).

Altogether Judge Goodwin will hear 82 pending lawsuits filed in federal courts around the country against American Medical Systems, 22 cases against Boston Scientific Corp., as well as 36 actions against Ethicon, Inc.

There were 69 attorneys who stated their willingness to commit to the time-intensive process.

An MDL is a centralized process that avoids the duplication of discovery and prevents inconsistent pretrial rulings to advance the cases through the courts quicker and with less cost to the plaintiffs.

The claims of injury due to defective surgical mesh are similar among the hundreds of female plaintiffs and include transvaginal mesh erosion, shrinkage, migration, organ perforation, infection, pain, bleeding, a recurrence of incontinence and prolapse, urinary problems, dyspareunia, nerve damage, vaginal scarring, toxic shock and death.

Additionally, many of the plaintiffs were implanted with multiple defective products made by more than one manufacturer. #