New Jersey Court Transfers Ethicon Abdominal Mesh Lawsuits to Alternate Court to Speed Up Litigation, The Rottenstein Law Group LLP Reports

Rockville Centre, NY (Law Firm Newswire) July 11, 2014 – New Jersey’s Atlantic County Superior Court has been the site of a multicounty litigation that consolidated thousands of transvaginal mesh lawsuits that have been brought by women alleging injuries caused by Ethicon transvaginal mesh devices (In re: Pelvic Mesh/Gynecare Litigation, No. 6341-10). A Court order dated June 13, 2014 has transferred a number of Ethicon Prolene mesh lawsuits to the state’s Middlesex Superior Court in order to segregate those cases from lawsuits involving the company’s Gynecare Prolift mesh devices. Prolene is an abdominal mesh product meant to treat hernias, and several of the plaintiffs seeking compensation for injuries allegedly caused by Prolene are men.

By issuing the June 13 Order, the court is in agreement with Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of Ehticon, which asserted that the Prolene mesh lawsuits did not belong in the Atlantic County litigation. The Atlantic County litigation is limited to lawsuits filed by women who allege injuries caused by transvaginal mesh, not abdominal mesh. Moreover, the Order notes that many of the witnesses who will be called to testify in the Prolene lawsuits likely reside near the Middlesex County court location, which is also close to Johnson & Johnson’s headquarters.

“By removing the Prolene lawsuits to the alternate court, it will allow the Atlantic County Court to focus completely on claims filed by women who have been injured by Ethicon’s transvaginal mesh devices,” said Rochelle Rottenstein, principle of the Rottenstein Law Group. “Since there are so many more lawsuits alleging injuries caused by Gynecare Prolift products, it is prudent to keep the attention on those cases, while the Prolene lawsuits can be handled in a more suitable location.” Court records indicate there are over 5,800 Gynecare Prolift lawsuits currently pending in the Atlantic County Court location.

While large numbers of transvaginal mesh lawsuits remain pending, some individual cases have settled out of court, including those filed against Ethicon, C.R. Bard, and Coloplast. The latest settlement, announced in May 2014 by Endo, the parent company of American Medical Systems, will pay $830 million to approximately 20,000 plaintiffs whose cases were consolidated into a federal multidistrict litigation (In Re American Medical Systems, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation – MDL No. 2325).

The Rottenstein Law Group LLP is currently evaluating Ethicon vaginal mesh claims and encourages anyone who believes they might have cause to file an Ethicon transvaginal mesh lawsuit to visit http://www.meshinjurylawfirm.com. The site contains valuable, easy to understand information about the legal process, as well as important information about the severe adverse side effects linked to Ethicon mesh devices. Users of the site can also access a no-cost confidential case evaluation form which will determine whether or not there are grounds to sue Ethicon.

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The Rottenstein Law Group LLP is a New York-based firm that represents clients nationwide in mass tort actions. The firm was founded by Rochelle Rottenstein, who has more than two decades of experience as a lawyer, to represent clients hurt by defective medical devices and medications. (Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.)

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