A California appellate court has decided to uphold claims that Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon Inc. failed to be honest with consumers about the true dangers associated with its pelvic mesh products. 

The appellate court mostly agreed with a San Diego Superior Court in determining that Ethicon misled consumers; however, it did trim a $344 million civil penalty the company was given down to $302 million, Law360 reports. 

Ethicon was able to avoid the $42 million in penalties after the appellate court decided there was no evidence that the company had made deceptive statements while engaged in private individual conversations with doctors. 

The appellate court said it had no other discrepancies with the lower court’s findings, namely that J&J and Ethicon were in violation of the state’s Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law, Law360 reports. 

The lower court determined in a 2020 ruling that Ethicon had been dishonest with both doctors and consumers about the safety of its polypropylene mesh products: Tension-free Vaginal Tape and the Prolift. 

In total, Ethicon was found to have committed more than 150,000 unfair competition law violations and more than 120,000 false advertising law violations, Law360 reports.  

J&J and Ethicon appealed the ruling, arguing the lower court had not used correct legal standards, that the evidence did not support its findings and that the court had mishandled its discretion by separately applying every deceptive communication claim. 

The appellate court, however, determined — beyond the one claim about deceptive statements — that the lower court had made the correct ruling, Law360 reports. 

Ethicon’s argument that the lower court had wrongly believed it could be held responsible for not disclosing all of the product’s associated risks was also rejected by the appellate court. 

The state originally pursued a civil penalty of $800 million, Law360 reports. 

A separate lawsuit was filed against Ethicon in October 2020 over claims its surgical staplers were prone to malfunctioning and causing surgical complications. 

Have you or a loved one had problems with a vaginal mesh? The attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual lawsuit or class action lawsuit is best for you (links to paid attorney content).

California is represented by Nicklas Akers, Jon Worm, Adelina Acuña, Tina Charoenpong, Monica J. Zi, Gabriel Schaeffer and Daniel Osborn of the Office of the Attorney General.  The Ethicon Pelvic Mesh Lawsuit is The People of California v. Johnson & Johnson, et al. , Case No. D077945, in the Court of Appeal for the State of California.

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A California appellate court has decided to uphold claims that Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon Inc. failed to be honest with consumers about the true dangers associated with its pelvic mesh products.... Read More

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