Pennsylvania appeals court upholds $14m plaintiff win in Ethicon mesh case

A state appeals court in Pennsylvania yesterday upheld the plaintiff’s $13.7 million win in a product liability lawsuit brought over one of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary Ethicon‘s pelvic mesh products. Plaintiff Sharon Carlino was awarded $13.5 million in damages in February 2016, after a Keystone State jury found that the Ethicon transvaginal polypropylene tape implanted during a 2005 hysterectomy was defective and that the company failed to adequately warn of its risks; Carlino needed three revision surgeries to remove the eroded mesh. That decision was upheld early the following year, with the court adding some $238,000 in delay damages. Ethicon and Carlino cross-appealed, with the company pressing seven arguments seeking to overturn the decision and Carlino arguing that the delay damage award should have been calculated on both compensatory and punitive damages, not just the compensatory award. Yesterday the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled on the cross-appeals, backing the lower court’s decision on all fronts, including Ethicon’s challenge to the punitive damages award and the delay damages ruling. “Taken as a whole, and viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict winner, this evidence permitted the jury to find Ethicon acted with wanton and willful disregard of Ms. Carlino’s rights and that this conduct caused her injuries. The evidence showed that Ethicon knew that the TVT could cause permanent vaginal and muscular p...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Featured Product Liability Wall Street Beat Ethicon johnsonandjohnson Pelvic Mesh Lawsuits Source Type: news