Additional Depositions Granted for Pa. TVM Lawsuits

Additional Depositions Granted for Pa. TVM Lawsuits

Introduction

The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas overruled a motion filed by J&J subsidiary Ethicon requesting the court to decline the deposition notices that the Transvaginal mesh lawsuit plaintiffs had sent to company officials and included Ethicon's own strategic sourcing manager. Based on the Bristol-Myers Squibb decision, Ethicon had demanded 90 cases to be ousted as they were filed in the Philadelphia court by out-of-state plaintiffs, which left around 30 cases in the kitty. The plaintiffs put forth a strong argument stating that the plastic mesh materials used in the Ethicon mesh implants were supplied by Secant located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. A Pennsylvania judge granted a limited depositions grant of a corporate designee and the strategic sourcing manager for Ethicon, Inc. The company has faced four previous defeats when it was ordered by the jury to pay a total nearing $48 million to Ethicon transvaginal mesh plaintiffs.

TVM lawsuits allege that the manufacturers failed to properly test their products and did not provide adequate warnings regarding the risks associated with the devices including the lack of any human trial by-passing the 510(K) approval way. Lawsuits are filed against a number of manufacturers, including American Medical Systems, Inc., Boston Scientific Corp, and C.R. Bard, Inc