US judge to slash $88 million hernia mesh jury award against Medtronic

By Nate Raymond

BOSTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - A federal judge said on Tuesday that she plans to slash an $88 million verdict against Medtronic MDT.N in the first case to go to trial out of thousands by people claiming hernia-repair mesh implants made by one of its units injured them.

US District Judge Patti Saris during a hearing in Boston said that while it was hard to assess the appropriate damages award to compensate Alabama resident Larry Patterson for his pain and suffering, the jury's August verdict would not stand.

"I found the jury verdict shocking and excessive," Saris said.

She said she believed the verdict was a "product of passion," fueled in part by a "powerful" closing argument delivered by a lawyer for Patterson and his wife urging jurors to send a message by holding the company responsible.

Saris noted that reducing the jury's award would entitle Patterson to ask for a new trial. She urged Medtronic and Patterson's attorneys to consider instead settling the case and clearing the field so the parties could focus on the next hernia mesh bellwether case scheduled for trial in January.

The verdict was the largest compensatory award by a jury in over 15 years of litigation against manufacturers of hernia mesh and transvaginal mesh products, according to the plaintiffs' attorneys at Levin, Papantonio, Proctor, Buchanan, O’Brien, Barr & Mougey.

Following a three-week trial, jurors awarded $77 million to Larry Patterson and $11 million to his wife after finding that Medtronic's Covidien unit failed to provide an adequate warning about the dangers posed by the mesh implanted in him in 2017.

Patterson's case was the first bellwether, or test case, to go to trial out of thousands of cases against Medtronic, the last major body of litigation over hernia mesh after other companies, including units of Becton Dickinson and Johnson & Johnson, largely settled cases against them.

About 10,500 plaintiffs nationally are pursuing cases against Medtronic. Most of the cases are in Massachusetts state court, while 2,400 lawsuits are consolidated in federal court before Saris.

Lawyers for Medtronic told Saris there was no justification for a verdict that large against the company, that contained no punitive damages award. The largest prior hernia mesh verdict they could identify was a $4.8 million award a Rhode Island jury awarded in a case against Becton Dickinson in 2022.

“This verdict, your honor, is truly one that shocks the conscience," said Ilana Eisenstein, a lawyer for Medtronic at DLA Piper.

Eisenstein called it "grossly excessive," particularly given that Patterson had not suffered a catastrophic injury but was able to work, drive, and dress himself and to attend Tuesday's hearing in person.

Timothy O’Brien, a lawyer for Patterson at Levin Papantonio, countered that there had been several eight-figure transvaginal mesh verdicts that compared favorably to the $88 million award. He said Patterson still faces future surgeries to resolve the injuries he incurred.

Patterson was implanted with Covidien's Symbotex mesh during a 2017 hernia repair operation and claims it eventually caused him to suffer a bowel obstruction necessitating another operation in 2020.

"Most of his damages are yet to come," O'Brien said.

The case is Patterson v. Covidien Inc, US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, No. 1:22-cv-10153.

For the plaintiff: Timothy O’Brien of Levin, Papantonio, Proctor, Buchanan, O’Brien, Barr & Mougey

For Medtronic: Ilana Eisenstein and Jessica Wilson of DLA Piper

Read more:

US jury says Medtronic owes $88 million in first case to go to trial over Covidien's hernia mesh

Medtronic faces first trial in US hernia mesh injury cases

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston)