International Medical Device Manufacturer
Location: Nationwide, cases tried in: Philadelphia; New York City; East St. Louis, IL; Bakersfield, CA
Number of Claimants: Over 750 personal injury lawsuits
Facts: WWHGD’s client manufactured and sold a medical device for the surgical treatment of female urinary stress incontinence. After approximately 15,000 implantation surgeries, WWHGD’s client voluntarily recalled the unused devices due to a higher than expected rate of post-operative complications. WWHGD served as co-national defense counsel and took lead on the case specific liability, causation and damages issues.
Discovery: The federal cases were consolidated for coordinated pre-trial proceedings by the Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation. This significantly streamlined pre-trial discovery of WWHGD’s client, which included over 50,000 documents and 30 depositions of the company’s personnel. An extranet was utilized to allow internet access to the documents in a searchable format.
Case results: Three defense verdicts and one judgment for the Plaintiff. Global settlement negotiations spanning several months culminated in the resolution of all cases then pending. WWHGD has continued to serve as defense counsel in each case brought subsequent to the global settlement.