The Eighth Circuit on Tuesday said a lower court didn’t err in dismissing with prejudice a woman’s suit against Johnson & Johnson unit Mentor Worldwide LLC over allegedly defective breast implants.
The panel unanimously said plaintiff Diane Graham didn’t explain why she had sought to have her suit dismissed without prejudice, despite multiple opportunities to do so. The panel sided with Mentor’s argument that she was trying to avoid an adverse judgment in federal court after it said Graham’s claims were preempted by federal law.
When deciding whether to allow a plaintiff to voluntarily dismiss their suit, a court should take into account whether the plaintiff has explained why they want the suit dismissed.
Greene received her breast implants in 2000 and was told by a doctor in early 2018 that she should consider getting them removed due to leaking silicon. Later that year, she was in a car crash that ruptured her implants and had them removed.
In 2019, she filed suit in Missouri state court against Mentor, the surgical center where she received her breast implants and the driver in the crash. Her claims against the driver were sent back to state court and the claims against the surgical center were dismissed.
Law360: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/1388098/8th-circ-won-t-revive-mentor-breast-implant-suit