Judge Orders J&J to Pay $344 Million in Pelvic Mesh Lawsuit
January 30 2020 - 08:22PM
Dow Jones News
By Peter Loftus
A California judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $344
million in a lawsuit in which state officials accused the company
of deceptively marketing surgical mesh devices for use in pelvic
procedures in women.
Then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris sued J&J and
its Ethicon unit in 2016, saying the company marketed its mesh
devices as being safe treatments for conditions including stress
urinary incontinence, but concealed or misrepresented serious risks
such as chronic pain and sexual dysfunction.
The lawsuit said J&J's behavior violated state laws against
unfair competition and false advertising.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Eddie Sturgeon on Thursday
ordered the company to pay the penalty, after a trial in 2019.
"J&J knew the dangers but put its profits ahead of the
health of millions of women," California's current attorney
general, Xavier Becerra, said in a statement. "Today we achieved
justice for the women forever scarred by this dishonesty."
J&J said it would appeal the decision, a process that could
take one to three years. J&J said its Ethicon business
"responsibly communicated the risks and benefits of its
transvaginal mesh products to doctors and patients." The company
said that during the 2019 trial, the state failed to present
evidence proving that any California doctor or patient was actually
or likely to be misled by any communication from Ethicon.
J&J has previously settled some other litigation over the
safety of its mesh devices, including an October 2019 agreement to
pay $116.9 million to 41 states and the District of Columbia.
J&J didn't admit liability or misconduct in that
settlement.
About 19,800 plaintiffs had lawsuits pending against J&J as
of Sept. 29, 2019, alleging pelvic meshes caused injuries.
J&J is facing lawsuits from a total of about 100,000
plaintiffs over the safety and marketing of a range of products
including opioids and baby powder.
Write to Peter Loftus at peter.loftus@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 30, 2020 20:07 ET (01:07 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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