Australian women have won a huge $300 million settlement from pharma giant Johnson & Johnson, after a monumental legal battle over pelvic mesh implants finally ended.
The settlement is the reportedly the largest in a product liability class action in Australian history. It is subject to approval by the Federal Court.
Women suffered life-altering health complications from the implants which eroded into surrounding organs, causing chronic pain, painful sexual intercourse and incontinence.
“We welcome this settlement which brings the litigation to an end,” Rebecca Jancauskas, from Shine Lawyers who led the class action, said.
“If the Federal Court approves the settlement our focus will shift to the important task of distributing the settlement to group members,” she said.
The first class action was filed in the Federal Court in 2012, and the trial ran for seven months between July 2017 and February 2018.
A judge ruled in the applicants’ favour in November 2019.
Johnson & Johnson Medical and Ethicon immediately tried, unsuccessfully, to appeal.
In November last year the High Court also dismissed Johnson & Johnson’s application for special leave to appeal.
A second class action was filed in April last year on behalf of women who received their implants on or after 4 July 2017, and were not eligible to join the first class action.
Horrific stories of the impacts of mesh implants began making headlines in 2017.
By the end of that year, different mesh products were being recalled from the market.
In the US, women banded together to take companies like Johnson & Johnson, American Medical Systems and Boston Scientific to court in class actions.
In Australia, a 2018 Senate inquiry concluded surgery with mesh, which it estimated had been performed on about 150,000 women in Australia, should be a “last resort”.
A massive class action was brought by Shine Lawyers on behalf of 1350 women in the Federal Court against Johnson & Johnson and two subsidiaries, including Ethicon.
Women implanted with one or more of the below devices in Australia up to 30 June 2020 who suffered one or more complications may be eligible for compensation.
- Gynecare Prolift Pelvic Floor Repair Systems (Anterior, Posterior and Total)
- Gynecare Prosima Pelvic Floor Repair Systems (Anterior, Posterior and Combined)
- Gynecare Prolift+M Pelvic Floor Repair Systems (Anterior, Posterior and Total)
- Gynecare TVT
- Gynecare TVT Abbrevo
- Gynecare TVT Secur
- Gynecare TVT Exact
- Gynecare TVT Obturator
- Gynecare Gynemesh PS Nonabsorbable Polypropylene Mesh
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