CVN screenshot of plaintiff's attorney Adam Slater (left) and defense attorney Lori Cohen (right) delivering their opening statements
Hackensack - The first trial in New Jersey state court involving allegedly defective pelvic mesh implants manufactured by C.R. Bard Inc. is currently underway, and the trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
Opening statements took place on March 19 in the lawsuit filed by Mary McGinnis, who alleges that Bard’s “Avaulta” and “Align” transvaginal mesh implants, which she received to treat her bladder prolapse and stress incontinence, were defectively designed and left her suffering from chronic pain. She claims Bard knew the chemicals in the mesh could adversely react with vaginal tissue but failed to adequately warn doctors and patients.
Bard denies the allegations, maintaining that its products were extensively tested, and that McGinnis’ ailments are the results of other underlying medical issues. Both the Avaulta and Align implants were taken off the market in 2012 and 2016, respectively.
As home to both Johnson & Johnson’s and Bard’s US headquarters, New Jersey is a major hub for pelvic mesh-related lawsuits, but to date only two cases have actually gone to trial. Both cases involved implants manufactured by J&J subsidiary Ethicon, and of the approximately 160 cases pending involving Bard’s implants, McGinnis’ case will be the first in the state to go before a jury.
Out of the roughly 30 pelvic mesh cases to go to trial in state and federal court since the first trial in 2012, only three have involved C.R. Bard implants.
An initial trial in California state court involving the Avaulta device ended in a $5.5 million verdict in 2012, and a federal jury in West Virginia returned a $2 million verdict in an Avaulta case in 2013. A trial in Missouri state court involving the Bard Align and Boston Scientific’s “Solyx” implant ended in a defense verdict in 2016.
The same attorney who lead Bard’s defense in that Missouri trial, Lori Cohen of Greenberg Traurig, is representing the company in this current case. Cohen is based in the firm’s Atlanta office.
McGinnis is represented by Adam Slater of Mazie Slater Katz Freeman Roseland, a New Jersey-based firm. Slater represented plaintiffs in the two previous New Jersey mesh trials involving Ethicon.
Both of those trials were recorded by CVN, in addition to the previous Bard trial in Missouri.
CVN also previously recorded pelvic mesh trials in Texas, California and Massachusetts, which are all available to subscribers as part of CVN’s one-of-a-kind online video library of gavel-to-gavel civil jury trials.
The current trial in New Jersey will take place before Bergen County Superior Court Judge James DeLuca.
The case is captioned Mary McGinnis and Thomas Walsh McGinnis v. C.R. Bard Inc., et al., case number BER-L-17543-14.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com.