According to a pretrial order issued on Dec. 11, a federal judge in West Virginia set the 2014 schedule for four transvaginal mesh bellwether trials. The pretrial conference will be held on Jan. 16, 2014, to prepare for one of the trials’ start date of April 7. Each bellwether trial will revolve around the claims of a representative group of women who said they suffered complications and severe side effects from their vaginal mesh implants, according to the Rottenstein Law Group. The defendant in all of the cases is American Medical Systems. According to Bernstein Liebhard LLP, court documents indicate there are currently more than 12,000 vaginal mesh lawsuits filed against AMS in West Virginia, where the trials will be held.
The four trials will follow the sequence: Serrano v. AMS, Inc., et al.; Jilovec v. AMS, Inc.; Weiler v. AMS, Inc.; and Fontes, et al. v. AMS, Inc.
AMS is only one transvaginal mesh manufacturer being called to defend itself against allegations about its products. Judge Joseph Goodwin, the federal judge who set the schedule, is currently overseeing lawsuits against six different vaginal mesh manufacturers in West Virginia, Rottenstein reported. There are more than 40,000 lawsuits pending in the six multidistrict litigation trials. According to Rottenstein, if previous outcomes of vaginal mesh lawsuits are any indication, the women claiming injuries might receive compensation for their suffering.
Bernstein Liebhard, a nationwide law firm with an attorney serving on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in the AMS litigation, said the trials will help women suffering from transvaginal mesh injuries receive compensation.
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“We are representing numerous women in transvaginal mesh lawsuits that have been filed in this proceeding,” said Bernstein Liebhard. “The bellwether trials will provide insight into how juries might rule in similar claims pending against American Medical Systems.”