Mass Action News

In 2012, thousands of lawsuits filed nationwide against several manufacturers of transvaginal mesh products. These cases were consolidated by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) into several MDLs before the Honorable Joseph R. Goodwin in the Southern District of West Virginia. Among the dozens of lawyers who applied for leadership positions, Judge Goodwin selected Tom Cartmell as one of a handful of attorneys to lead this mass litigation. Over the ensuing eight years, Tom and the Wagstaff & Cartmell team committed more than 50,000 hours prosecuting more than 100,000 cases – one of the largest mass consolidations ever. Media outlets have reported that settlements have totaled more than $8 billion for women injured by these defective products.  In addition to co-leading this mass action in federal court, Tom Cartmell and Jeff Kuntz played leading roles in several bellwether jury trials in federal and state courts, including:

$35 Million Jury Verdict Against Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson (N.D. Ind.) –

A jury in the Northern District of Indiana awarded plaintiff Barbara Kaiser $10 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages, finding she had established both her claims of negligent design defect and negligent failure to warn.

Jeff Kuntz served as Co-Lead Counsel in this case.

$5.7 Million Jury Verdict Against Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson

A jury in Bakersfield, California returned a $5.7 million verdict in favor of plaintiff Colleen Perry for damages sustained from a TVT Abbrevo mesh sling device manufactured by Ethicon, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

$3.27 Million Jury Verdict – Huskey v. Ethicon, et al. S.D.W.V.

Huskey v. Ethicon was the first Johnson & Johnson bellwether case to go to trial in Charleston, West Virginia. The plaintiffs, Jo and Allen Huskey, alleged her TVT-O was defective and caused her permanent and severe complications including chronic pelvic pain, sexual dysfunction and loss of consortium. After a nine-day trial, on September 5, 2014, Husky and her husband were awarded $3.27 million and an affirmation of all five claims including failure to warn and design defect.

Jeff Kuntz served as Co-Lead Counsel in this case.

$1.2 Million Jury Verdict Against Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson

A jury in Dallas, Texas returned a $1.2 million verdict in favor of plaintiff Linda Batiste for damages sustained from a TVT-O mesh sling device manufactured by Ethicon, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

The Wagstaff & Cartmell team is involved in this prescription opiate litigation MDL.

Ty Hudson worked with a team of lawyers to help prosecute the case against prescription drug distributors in the initial MDL bellwether cases, which resulted in settlements totaling more than $260 million. The next phase of the litigation is on-going.

Eric D. Barton is representing dozens of county and city governments in Kansas, Missouri, Virginia, Florida, and Mississippi in lawsuits against manufacturers and distributors of opioid pain medications seeking recoveries of damages arising from the nationwide opioid addiction crisis.

In 2007, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) created an MDL consolidating a number of cases before the Honorable Cynthia M. Rufe in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. After being interviewed in open court, Judge Rufe appointed Tom Cartmell to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee leading this case. Tom was later selected to be co-lead trial counsel in the lead trial, which settled shortly before the start of trial. All cases in the MDL eventually settled for a confidential amount. Media outlets have reported that the settlements totaled roughly $2 billion.