The parties involved in the Ethicon hernia mesh litigation filed a notice on November 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, submitting an updated list of 37 cases selected for inclusion for the initial discovery pool. Following case-specific discovery, the parties are required to finalize 10 cases in all by February 14, 2019, ahead of the first bellwether trial which has been scheduled for December 2, 2019.
The defendants named in this litigation are J&J and its subsidiary Ethicon. Plaintiffs injured after receiving the surgical mesh implants allege the defendant's Physiomesh Flexible Composite Mesh is defectively designed and manufactured with patients experiencing higher chances of painful and debilitating complications including infection, adhesions, chronic pain, and hernia recurrence; they further hold the defendants responsible for inadequate pre-market testing and failure to warn the medical community and patients of the potential risks.
In June 2017, MDL No. 2782: In Re: Ethicon Physiomesh Flexible composite Hernia Mesh Products Liability Litigation was established by JPML for coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings. This burgeoning MDL is assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard Story and currently has more than 1,450 pending lawsuits.
