Defendants in Mass Tort Pelvic Mesh Lawsuits May Now Succeed With Removal to Federal Court – Non-Diverse Defendant Wins Dismissal

In a significant win for Secant Medical LLC, (Secant), Judge Arnold L. New of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County granted its motion to dismiss mass tort pelvic mesh personal injury claims in a decision dated August 22, 2014.  The court held that under the Biomedical Access Assurance Act (BAAA), Secant is not a manufacturer or seller of the pelvic mesh. Secant, a Pennsylvania company, was undoubtedly named to defeat diversity jurisdiction in an effort by plaintiffs to stay in state court in…
Continue reading...

This Week’s Life Science Headlines

        Litigation …
Continue reading...

Punitives Verdict in Pelvic Mesh Trial

Earlier this week, we noted that the first pelvic mesh trial in New Jersey against Johnson & Johnson resulted in a plaintiff’s verdict.  Yesterday, the same jury rendered a punitive damages award against J&J.  Not surprisingly, this result has drawn immediate attention from both legal and general commentators and news outlets (e.g., Law360 (registration required), New Jersey Law Journal (registration required), Bloomberg,  Given the number of other similar claims pending against J&J in New Jersey and elsewhere, it is likely that this case will…
Continue reading...

Verdict for Plaintiff in First New Jersey Pelvic Mesh Trial

Yesterday, a jury in Atlantic City, New Jersey returned a verdict against Johnson & Johnson in the first vaginal mesh case to proceed to trial from among the roughly 1,800 vaginal mesh cases that have been centralized before the Hon. Carol E. Higbee of the Superior Court of New Jersey.  The plaintiff, Linda Gross of South Dakota, alleged that the Gynecare Prolift vaginal mesh product that was implanted in her was defective, and that the company had also failed to adequately warn of the dangers…
Continue reading...