Washington State Blames J&J For Pelvic Mesh Complications

Introduction

Moving along the federal pelvic mesh litigation against Johnson & Johnson, on October 26, Washington State’s Attorney General found the company liable for fraudulently marketing their defective pelvic mesh.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a motion for partial summary judgment in King County Superior Court asking the judge to rule that J&J failed to reveal the devastating side effects of the surgical mesh devices and violated the State's Consumer Protection Act. The motion for the partial summary judgment would be heard on December 14, 2018. The state is seeking a maximum penalty of $2,000 per violation including costs, fees, restitution, and additional relief which amount to $24 million in total. For any issues remaining unresolved, a trial date has been set for April 22, 2019.

J&J and Ethicon have so far sold more than 12,000 polypropylene mesh devices in the state of Washington between 2002 and 2015. The lawsuits filed by several women across the nation claim that the device did not undergo proper clinical trials before being extensively marketed. As of October 2018, Ethicon faces more than 20,000 cases in the with the complaints of erosion, organ perforation, severe pain, and urinary problems. Ethicon Pelvic Mesh lawsuits are consolidated as a part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2327; In Re: Ethicon, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

Johnson & Johnson also faces lawsuits against its talc-based products, alleging that it causes cancer. Currently, there are several lawsuits against the company over asbestos-linked mesothelioma and ovarian cancer. All the lawsuits against the talc-based products of the company are centralized before Hon. Freda L. Wolfson, U.S.D.J./ Hon. Lois H. Goodman, U.S.M.J. in the district court of New Jersey for coordinated pretrial proceedings.

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