Prolift Vaginal Mesh Victim Awarded $11 Million in NJ State Court, Rottenstein Law Group Reports

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., Feb. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A New Jersey state court jury has awarded more than $11 million in combined compensatory and punitive damages to a woman claiming Ethicon's Prolift vaginal mesh implant caused her to suffer serious, debilitating injury, according to sources from the Rottenstein Law Group, which maintains a website on mesh lawsuits designed to provide mesh recipients with information and help them evaluate if they have a case.  

Concluding the first trial of one of approximately 2,000 personal injury cases pending in New Jersey Superior Court involving the Prolift vaginal mesh kit, the jury awarded the claimant, 47-year-old Linda Gross, $3.35 million in compensatory damages early this week. (Gross v. Gynecare Inc., Atl-L-6966-10, Superior Court of Atlantic County, New Jersey). The jury then reconvened to consider the possibility of punitive damages and announced the $7.76 million punitive damages award this morning.

The jury's damage awards, which total $11.1 million, are based on its finding that Ethicon failed to provide an adequate warning to Gross's implanting surgeon, and on the jury's finding that the Prolift's instructions for use and marketing materials fraudulently misrepresented the product's risks.

As part of the closing arguments he delivered at the trial, counsel for the claimant showed the jury e-mails and re-played videotaped deposition testimony demonstrating Ethicon's repeated decisions to ignore reports of complications related to its Prolift vaginal mesh in a rush to get that mesh to market.

"The punitive damages award likely will be appealed, and it might even be overturned or reduced," said Rochelle Rottenstein, principal of the Rottenstein Law Group, a New York City firm that represents hundreds of women who allege that they've been hurt by vaginal mesh. "Still, the award should give vaginal mesh manufacturers an idea of the jury's mindset, and make those manufacturers realize they had better think seriously about settling future cases."

The Rottenstein Law Group's website describes all of the issues vaginal mesh patients face and explains their options, and offers a free informational brochure for download.

About the Rottenstein Law Group
The Rottenstein Law Group is a New York-based law firm that represents clients in mass tort actions. The firm was founded by Rochelle Rottenstein, a lawyer with over two decades of experience in compassionate representation of clients in consumer product injury, mass tort, and class action lawsuits. For more information, please visit the firm's web site, or call (888) 9-ROT-LAW. (Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.)

SOURCE Rottenstein Law Group