LA Woman's Lawsuit Over Allergan Breast Implant Settled

LA Woman's Lawsuit Over Allergan Breast Implant Settled

Introduction

A Louisiana woman reached a settlement with Allergan USA Inc. over a lawsuit filed against the company over its allegedly defective Natrelle Style 410 FX implants, which had to be removed after they got ruptured.

According to the lawsuit filed in 2019 in a Louisiana federal court, the woman received Allergan’s breast implants in 2016, after she underwent a bilateral mastectomy. She started experiencing pain after her right implant collapsed partially, and her doctor stated that there was a spillage of a tan-yellow sticky gelatinous material, which was caused due to rupturing. The woman removed the implants in 2019.

The defendant made an attempt to dismiss the case, arguing that the product liability claims were pre-empted by federal law. Last year, U.S. District Judge Martin L.C. Feldman in the Eastern District of Louisiana allowed the case to proceed, stating that the plaintiff asserted viable non-pre-empted claims.

According to the order issued last week, the court stated that the parties agreed to a compromise, which resulted in the dismissal of the lawsuit with the right to reopen or seek a summary judgment to enforce the compromise if the breast implant settlement is not consummated within a reasonable time.

Currently, Allergan is facing nearly 150 product liability lawsuits and class action lawsuits over its breast implants, each claiming that the textured design was unreasonably dangerous and defective, and the manufacturer knew that it increased the risk of breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) yet failed to warn about those risks.

The lawsuits are consolidated before U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti in the District of New Jersey under MDL No.: 2921. Also, lawsuits filed in New Jersey are consolidated as part of multicounty litigation (MCL) in the New Jersey Superior Court for Bergen County, where the claims will be presided by Judge Rachelle Harz for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.