J&J Agrees To Settle First Cases Over Transvaginal Mesh Implants

By Jof Enriquez,
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Johnson and Johnson (J&J) recently agreed to settle four lawsuits over defective transvaginal mesh implants made by its Ethicon unit. The terms of the settlements were not disclosed. The four cases were the first settlements made by J&J over claims by women alleging that the devices caused injuries.

One of the cases involves a group of women in Missouri who claimed that the inserts left them in pain. Their lawyer, Adam Slater, said that the details of the settlement are confidential, according to a NorthJersey.com report.

The same report said that one of the cases was filed by the family of Joan Budke. In court filings cited in the report, the Ethicon Prolift device allegedly eroded after implantation. A subsequent infection led to her death in 2009. Her family sued J&J for punitive damages, but Judge William Hass dismissed the family's claims that J&J failed to adequately warn Budke and her doctors about the insert's risks and denied the award of damages. However, J&J later settled with Budke's family for an unspecified amount.

The cases were the first suits over transvaginal mesh devices that J&J agreed to settle. Since 2012, the company had refused to enter into settlement talks with plaintiffs in the more than 23,000 cases it faces in U.S. Courts, according to the report. J&J claims that a substantial number of cases are fraudulent and recently asked a judge to look into telephone solicitations made to women to entice them to file a case without basis.

J&J also said in the report that the four settlements did not equate to an admission of liability over the manufacturing and marketing of the implants in question.

"It's only four cases, but it's a start," said Carl Tobias, who teaches product-liability law at the University of Richmond in Virginia, according to the report. "There's still a long way to go to get the whole thing resolved."

It is unclear if more settlements are in the offing considering J&J’s stance on mesh device cases. However, the company said that they are willing to settle with more plaintiffs on a case by case basis.

"Lawsuits are examined individually in light of the individual nature of the claims," Samantha Lucas, an Ethicon spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement, according to the report. "In some individual cases, the company may consider whether settlement is appropriate."

The federal judge who oversees the multi-district litigation of cases against J&J, C.R. Bard, and other manufacturers recently encouraged them to settle pelvic mesh cases or risk losing billions in damages from unfavorable verdicts. U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin said in a recent hearing of C.R. Bard’s cases that verdicts are awarding plaintiffs "over a million dollars" on average in separate cases.

J&J's Ethicon unit last year was ordered by federal jurors to pay a woman $3.27 million in damages over claims that her implanted transvaginal mesh resulted in pelvic pain and other injuries.

Another manufacturer of pelvic mesh devices, Endo International, last year set aside some $830 million to settle over 20,000 similar suits.