The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld a $2.43 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary Ethicon in a pelvic mesh injury case.
Sharon Beltz and her husband, Walter Beltz Jr. of Pen Argyl, Penn., won the verdict in 2017 based on their complaint that Sharon Beltz had suffered injuries due to mesh erosion and contraction, including infection, inflammation, scar tissue, organ perforation, dyspareunia, blood loss, pelvic floor damage and pelvic pain. Beltz had Prolift pelvic mesh, manufactured by J&J’s Ethicon division, implanted in 2006 and had corrective surgery in 2011, according to the complaint.
Their claims included defective manufacturing and design, failure to warn the patient or her physicians of the proper candidates for or the safest methods of implantation and use, negligence, common law fraud, breach of warranty and violation of consumer law.
The trial court rejected J&J’s post-trial motions – entered 17 days after the verdict rather than the required 10 days – for being untimely, and the appeals court agreed in December 2018. Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected J&J’s appeal of the appeals court’s decision.
In June, J&J lost the ninth of 11 product liability lawsuits brought before a Pennsylvania state court when the jury awarded $500,000 in damages to the plaintiff.