Mentor ObTape Lawsuits Transferred to Georgia

The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has ordered that all federal lawsuits involving the Mentor ObTape Transobturator Sling be consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia for pretrial proceedings as part of an MDL, or Multidistrict Litigation.

Mentor Corp. currently faces at least 22 ObTape lawsuits pending in 12 different Courts. The cases have been filed by women who have suffered severe complications allegedly caused by a defective design in a vaginal bladder sling previously sold by Mentor to treat stress urinary incontinence.

The Mentor ObTape Sling contains a “nonwoven” design, which has been found to block essential nutrients and oxygen, potentially resulting in severe pain, vaginal extrusions, urinary tract erosion or infection.

In October 2008, Mentor filed a petition with the Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate all of the ObTape lawsuits that are currently pending or may be filed in the future. They asked that all of the cases be centralized before one judge for coordinated pretrial litigation in the Western District of Oklahoma or, in the alternative, in the Northern District of Oklahoma or Northern District of Ohio.

At a hearing on the petition November 20, 2008, attorneys representing women who have filed these lawsuits opposed the formation of an MDL, arguing that the litigation only involves one defendant and there are currently only a limited number of ObTape law firms investigating cases. However, they asked that if an MDL was formed, that the cases be transferred to the Middle District of Georgia, where the most cases are currently pending and the first ObTape lawsuit was filed.

There are currently 5 cases pending in the Middle District of Georgia, with 4 in the Middle District of Florida, 3 in the Western District of Oklahoma, 2 in the District of New Jersey and one each in the Western District of Missouri, Central District of California, Northern District of Georgia, Eastern District of New York, Southern District of Georgia, Eastern District of Louisiana, Northern District of Ohio and Northern District of Oklahoma.

The MDL Panel found that consolidation was appropriate in these cases, as they involve common questions of fact and that centralization in an MDL would help avoid inconsistent pretrial rulings in different Districts, duplicate discovery and would conserve the resources of the Court and the parties.

“All 22 actions share factual issues as to whether Mentor’s ‘ObTape’ brand transobturator sling, a device used to treat female stress urinary incontinence, was defectively designed and/or manufactured, and whether Mentor failed to provide adequate warnings concerning the device,” wrote Judge John G. Heyburn, II, Chairman of the Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in the Transfer Order entered December 3, 2008.

The cases will be assigned to U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land in the Middle District of Georgia, who the panel indicates has the time and experience to handle the MDL.

Tags: Bladder Sling, Mentor, ObTape, Vaginal Sling