Calif. Appeals Court Strikes $42 Million in Penalties Levied Against Ethicon in Pelvic Mesh Case

SAN DIEGO — A California appellate court has reversed a portion of a lower court’s ruling that Ethicon’s oral marketing communications regarding its transvaginal mesh products were likely to deceive doctors, finding the evidence did not support the decision.

In an April 11 order, the California Court of Appeal, 4th District, struck the nearly $42 million in civil penalties that the San Diego County Superior Court imposed against Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson for those communications.

Since the late 1990s, Ethicon has manufactured, marketed, and sold pelvic mesh products intended to treat stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and pelvic organ prolapse …