New Jersey Case Being Readied for J&J January Pelvic Mesh Trial

TVT-O from beckenbodenzentrummuenster.de

Mesh Medical Device News Desk, November 23, 2016 ~ MND has learned an Indiana case is being prepared for a January 9th trial in Bergen County, New Jersey naming defendant, Johnson & Johnson and its TVT-O pelvic mesh.

After a lull in any pelvic mesh litigation in New Jersey, a case is being readied for trial January 9th naming Johnson & Johnson and its Ethicon division.

The product in question is the TVT-O (transvaginal tape obturator) which has already been found defective before two separate juries.

*UPDATE* THE SUSAN SMITH CASE HAS SETTLED.

Susan Smith and her husband William Smith of Indiana are the plaintiffs.

She is represented by Fleming Nolan Jaz law firm with Adam Slater of Mazie Slater assisting.

The trials before Judge Rochelle Harz will be held in Bergen Co. New Jersey the venue named after Atlantic City.

William Gage, Jim Campbell of Boston and Judy Warenberger will represent the defendant.

The pelvic mesh cases amassed in New Jersey are defective product or product liability cases alleging the polypropylene pelvic mesh, used for incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse, was defective in its design or manufacture and that the companies make false and misleading representation about the safety of their products.

Adam Slater, Feb. 2013

As has been seen, these trials can settle just before the first day of trial or just before it goes to the jury.

William Gage, Ethicon attorney

That happened in the Budke case held in Missouri in 2014.

New Jersey is one of the few states that has its own multicounty litigation concerning pelvic or transvaginal mesh. Ethicon (J&J) and CR. Bard are concentrated there.

See the New Jersey Court Schedule here.

In October 2014, the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered reassigned the pelvic mesh cases moving them from Atlantic County to Bergen County New Jersey. Initially in front of Judge Brian R. Martinotti, there was another reassignment to Superior Court Judge Rachelle L. Harz to oversee the litigation.

TVT-O

TVT-O from IFU

TVT-O is a ribbon of polypropylene mesh that is placed through incisions in the vagina to form a support under the urethra as a treatment for incontinence. The ends of the mesh exit through the obturator space. Plaintiffs complain they can no longer walk with experiencing pain. Repeat chronic infections, mesh shrinkage, scarplate formation, dyspareunia or painful sex, are complaints alleged by women implanted with TVT-O.

TVT-O made by Ethicon, was implanted in two previous plaintiffs who appeared before juries. In both cases, the jury sided with the plaintiff and determined the pelvic mesh was defectively designed.

On September 5, 2014, a Charleston WV jury awarded Jo Husky $3.27 million in her TVT-O defective product case. The jury decided the mesh was defectively designed. Ethicon asked for a new trial. See the story here.

April 3, 2014, a Dallas jury decided the TVT-O implanted in Linda Batiste was defectively designed and awarded her $1.2 million. That award was later overturned.

Transvaginal mesh trials are also being readied in Philadelphia naming Ethicon, Johnson & Johnson, Gynecare, (all J&J), Boston Scientific, and C.R. Bard. See the list of cases here.

TVT Secur, from MegaMed Service, ru

A TVT-Secur pelvic mesh, also made by Ethicon, is being prepared for trial in Bergen County, New Jersey sometime in March, 2017.

Judge Harz has set a schedule for completion of pre-trial tasks, see it here.

LEARN MORE:

New Jersey court case orders and decisions in the Ethicon cases here.
http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/mass-tort/pelvicmesh/orders_decisions_gynecare.html