Pennsylvania Will Accept Out-of-State Mesh Cases

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas

Mesh Medical Device News Desk, April 4, 2019 ~ Mesh maker, Ethicon has been trying to keep pelvic mesh trials out of Philadelphia, a favorable venue for plaintiffs. So far the Philadelphia Court of Common Please has yielded $146 million in verdicts for mesh injured women.

A three-judge panel on Wednesday cleared the way for more cases to be tried there.

Pelvic mesh plaintiffs who live outside Pennsylvania will be able to pursue pelvic mesh claims in the Keystone State against Johnson & Johnson (Ethicon). A three-judge Superior Court panel cleared the way Wednesday.

Law 360 has the story, by subscription only.

Pennsylvania, specifically the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, has been an especially favorable court to plaintiffs yielding about $146 million in verdicts to the mesh-injured women.

The precedent was set by the Hammons case.

Hammons, an Indiana resident, appeared before the Philadelphia jury in December 2015 and was awarded nearly $13 million.

The compensation included $7 million in punitive damages due to the injuries she suffered from the Prolift pelvic mesh device, which was implanted with in 2009.

Ethicon, argued that the Indiana woman’s case should never have been heard in Pennsylvania claiming it was the wrong jurisdiction for Hammons to bring a civil lawsuit.

Dr. Greg Vigna, MD JD

Dr. Greg Vigna, who consults with pelvic mesh cases and especially pudendal nerve damaged women from a pelvic mesh implant, believes this is good news for plaintiffs.

“This is excellent news for my newly injured sling clients as my team looks to file catastrophic pudendal and obturator neuralgia cases in state courts across the country now that the MDL is closed.

“We appreciate the work Kline-Specter has done and continues to do. Pennsylvania obviously will be a frequent venue going forward for my clients who may be best served with their case governed under Pennsylvania Product Liability law rather than their state of implantation.”

Patricia Hammons

In an 82-page decision, filed June 19, 2018, Superior Court Judge Victor P. Stabile told the company to pay the damages.

Hammons was represented by Shanin Specter of Kline Specter, a Philadelphia law firm.

Her complaint, filed in May 2013, included not just Ethicon, but Secant Medical and Secant Medical LLC, a manufacturer of surgical mesh located in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, lending credence to Pennsylvania as the proper venue for this civil action.

Proper Venue

Plaintiffs argue Johnson & Johnson works with Secant Medical Inc., a Pennsylvania-based company that manufactured its implants. That gives plaintiffs the jurisdiction in Pennsylvania.

Ethicon (Johnson & Johnson) had tried to have about 70 mesh cases toss from Pennsylvania based on a U.S Supreme Court decision (Squibb v Superior Court of California) that disallows judge shopping unless there is a link to a particular venue.

See Case #652 EDA 2018 before the Pennsylvania Superior Court, Pelvic Mesh litigation.

LEARN MORE:

MND, September 5, 2018, Ethicon Tries Unsuccessfully to Have Hammons’ Issues Revisited

MND, May 23, 2018~ Philadelphia Gets Green Light as Venue for J&J Pelvic Mesh Cases

MND, June 20, 2018, Hammons Prolift Case $12.8 Million verdict Upheld (here)

MND, December 22, 2015, Philadelphia Prolift Mesh Case Yields $12.5 Million Verdict for Plaintiff

MND, July 11, 2017, Mesh Makers Want Non-Residents Ousted from Philadelphia court

By Jane Akre|2019-04-04T23:50:59-05:00April 4th, 2019|Media Reports|3 Comments

About the Author: Jane Akre

I’m National News Editor, Jane Akre and I began Mesh Medical Device News Desk aka Mesh News Desk (MND) in the summer of 2011 just after the Food and Drug Administration issued an explicit warning to the public that complications associated with surgical mesh used for prolapse repair (POP) and incontinence (SUI) are NOT rare! That was the starting point for the litigation you see today and thousands of lawsuits have been filed by women whose lives have been altered, some permanently, by the use of this petroleum-based product.

3 Comments

addison April 9, 2019 at 9:54 pm - Reply

Jane, do you forsee many more Prolift or Prolift+M trials? Also, can Prolift and Prolift+M cases be tried in Philadelphia or just Prolift due to the Prolift+M implants being manufactured by a plant outside of Pennsylvania?
Susan H May 1, 2019 at 11:39 pm - Reply

I had sling/mesh surgery November 2018. I starting hurting in March. My Dr did pelvic ultrasound said it was good. She told me to go see my urologist that my pain is from mesh surgery. I’m now on Lycia an pain meds now with out it I couldn’t take pain. I have other issues as well since my mesh surgery. If I had known this was going to happen I wouldn’t have had mesh surgery. No one told me I could have issues.
Still Standing May 2, 2019 at 10:40 pm - Reply

Susan, has your doctor recommended physical therapy for pelvic floor dysfunction? An ultrasound would not indicate if that is present but a good doctor would be able to map it with a pelvic exam. The mesh can trigger muscle spasms that are so painful. Then you brace your muscles because of the pain then things get my hypertonic. Pelvic floor PT helped me. In the end my complications were far more serious but anything you can do to lower your pain is important to pursue. Inflammation can also contribute as your body reacts to the mesh. Look at trying an anti inflammatory diet. Dairy and sugar are the biggest drivers of inflammation. Most importantly, you must keep moving even though you are hurting. Not moving can have tremendous repercussions on your overall health. My Mayo doctors told me that my focus on moving around those ten years even though I had excruciating pain contributed a lot to my ability to go through such a brutal surgery in September.

Be aware that Lyrica can cause a lot of weight gain. I tried to take it but just had too many side effects. What helped the most was a combination of gabapentin, zanaflex and amitriptyline. Hopefully over time you can find things that help you manage your pain. I’m just so sorry you are going through this. Did your doctor not tell you possible complications and offer you a non mesh repair? That just seems so careless if not. Beyond careless.

One more comment. It could be that you need to be under the care of a urogynecologist instead of a separate gynecologist and urologist. These things are connected and need to be addressed as a holistic issue. There are other things you can do to help descrease your experience of pain such as yoga, meditation, guided imagery. I would be glad to share some of these approaches with you if you are interested. I always had frozen bottles of water and I put a sock around it and put between my legs. It helped a lot. Haven’t had to use one since my last surgery but it was a go to intervention. I would take one on car rides and even had a small one if I went to lunch or a meeting.

Please don’t give up. It is terribly hard to come to grips with especially when those around you can’t understabd your pain. You are not alone.,Jane can give you my email if you ever want to contact me.