Surgical Mesh MDL Court Finds Punitive Damage Claims Under West Virginia Law Can Go To Jury
In the MDL involving more than 60,000 cases involving the use of transvaginal surgical mesh to treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia ruled yesterday that in cases where the plaintiffs were implanted with and allegedly injured by the products in West Virginia, West Virginia law would apply based on the state’s tort choice of law rules of lex loci delicti. The court also denied the defendant’s motion for summary judgment on those plaintiffs’ punitive damages claims, finding that given an alleged material data safety sheet warning that the product should not be implanted in the human body and evidence suggesting that the product be further tested when no additional clinical studies were performed, genuine issues of material fact remained that could justify an award of punitive damages under West Virginia law.
