A Florida federal jury has hit Coloplast Corp. with a $2.5 million verdict in a suit from a woman saying one of its pelvic mesh products was defective, causing an infection and pelvic pain after it was implanted.
The jury found that Virginia Redding and her physician relied on Coloplast’s representations of the mesh as safe and found that defects in the mesh’s design led to Redding’s injuries.
Redding was 58 when she underwent pelvic reconstruction surgery in December 2009, in which two of Coloplast’s products — NovaSilk mesh and a Supris sling — were used.
Redding reported pain immediately after the surgery and continued feeling pain and “heaviness”. Two weeks after the surgery, Redding’s physician told her she had an infection and that the mesh was eroding.
Redding filed suit in September 2014, using a short form complaint as part of multidistrict litigation about Coloplast’s mesh products in West Virginia federal court. The case was transferred to the Middle District of Florida in September 2019.
During the case, Coloplast argued that Redding should have known that the alleged defect was the cause of her injuries as soon as her doctor told her the mesh was eroding. Redding argued that she believed her post-surgery pain and the erosion were normal and only realized that there was a defect when she saw a commercial about it in 2014.
While the jury found that the evidence did not show that the Supris sling was defectively designed or that Coloplast had failed to warn Redding’s physician about its risks, they did find that the NovaSilk mesh had a design defect.
The jury further found that Coloplast had not sufficiently warned Redding’s physician about the risks associated with the mesh and that the failure to warn was the cause of Redding’s injuries.
The jury did not find evidence to support punitive damages against Coloplast.
LAW360: https://www.law360.com/articles/1488011/coloplast-hit-with-2-5m-verdict-in-pelvic-mesh-trial
