On the eve of trial, Johnson & Johnson's subsidiary Ethicon Inc. agreed to pay $9.9 million to settle the first lawsuit brought by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson accusing the company of downplaying the risks of its pelvic mesh products.
The New Jersey-based company was sued by the Attorney General in 2016, saying its Ethicon Inc. breached the state’s Consumer Protection Act by failing to warn patients and doctors about the dangers and irreversible complications of its defective products. According to claims filed by thousands of women, the surgical mesh intended to render extra support to damaged or weakened tissue caused urinary dysfunction, constipation, sexual problems, and severe pain. The defendants who were supposed to face the trial in King County Superior Court on Monday, April 22, did not admit wrongdoing. According to Ferguson’s office, about 14,000 Washington women were implanted with the company's pelvic mesh, and the settlement amount will be helpful for them. The Attorney General will declare a formal claims process for the affected women soon.
Ethicon pelvic mesh lawsuits are consolidated as a part of multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 2327; In Re: Ethicon, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation) before U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin in the Southern District of West Virginia.
