Just days after disclosing a transvaginal mesh lawsuit settlement affecting nearly 3,000 claims, Boston Scientific Corp. has resolved yet another case. According to court documents, the company has reached an undisclosed settlement in a lawsuit involving its Advantage Fit product, which had gone to trial in California earlier this month.
The trial commenced on May 5th in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, and the parties entered into a Joint Stipulation for Voluntary Dismissal on May 12th. HarrisMartin.com is reporting that settlement of the case was announced just before the jury was to begin hearing closing arguments.
Boston Scientific is facing more than 25,000 product liability claims involving its surgical mesh products used to treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence. Like the California case, all of the plaintiffs involved in these claims are alleged to have experienced mesh erosion, chronic pain and other debilitating transvaginal mesh complications following implantation of the devices. Boston Scientific is accused of failing to subject the products to adequate testing, and failing to inform doctors and patients about their risks.
On April 28th, Reuters reported that Boston Scientific had reached an agreement to settle 2,970 transvaginal mesh claims for a total of $119 million, marking the company’s first such agreement. Boston Scientific is expected to place settlement funds into an escrow account by October 1st, and will establish a procedure for claimants to participate in the settlement. The company has not admitted any liability for plaintiffs’ alleged injuries.
While the California case was settled before a jury had a chance to weigh in, verdicts have been rendered in several other Boston Scientific mesh trials. The first two cases, which were heard in Massachusetts state court, concluded with verdicts favoring the company. In November, however, a jury hearing a case in the federal multidistrict litigation underway in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia, awarded a total of $18.5 million to four women who were injured by Boston Scientific’s Obtryx mesh implant. A week earlier a federal jury in Miami awarded $26.7 million to four other women who suffered complications related to the company’s Pinnacle devices.
In September 2014, another Obtryx victim was awarded $73 million by a Texas jury, but the court later cut that award by nearly half to comply with state law on punitive damages. That case, which was subject to appeal, was among those included in the April settlement announcement.