11th Cir. Reinstates Mentor Breast Implant Case, Says Claims Not Preempted

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has reinstated a Mentor breast implant injury case, ruling the pro se plaintiff’s manufacturing defect claims are not expressly preempted by federal law because they allege violations of state law that parallel federal regulations.

In a July 20 published opinion, the appellate panel further found the claims are not impliedly preempted because they plausibly allege Mentor violated a duty it owed to the plaintiff, not the government, by deviating from the implants’ manufacturing specifications.

In January 2007, Lalitha Jacob was surgically implanted with Mentor’s MemoryGel implants. She later allegedly developed “severely …