Jurors Award $3.27 Million to Plaintiffs in Ethicon Transvaginal Mesh Bellwether Case

CHARLESTON, W. Va. — A federal jury in West Virginia has awarded transvaginal mesh plaintiffs $3.27 million in a bellwether case, finding the warnings accompanying Ethicon Inc.’s Gynecare TVT Obturator were inadequate and that the risks of the device outweigh its utility.

On Sept. 5, following an eight-day trial and approximately six hours of jury deliberations, plaintiffs Jo Huskey and her husband were awarded damages on their claims of defective design, failure to warn and negligence. The couple was awarded $100,000 for medical costs, $470,000 for past pain and suffering/mental anguish, $2.5 million for pain, suffering, mental anguish, disability and …