Ga. Federal Judge Halves $4 Million Punitive Damages Award in Mentor ObTape Action

MACON, Ga. — A Georgia federal judge has halved a $4 million punitive damages award issued in a Mentor ObTape transvaginal mesh action , explaining that Florida’s $2 million statutory cap applies because the plaintiff did not show that Mentor acted with a specific intent that the device would cause harm to those who were implanted with it.

However, in the Oct. 20 order, Chief Judge Clay D. Land of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia upheld the award of $400,000 in compensatory damages, ruling that the evidence supported the jury’s findings that the device was …