Design Defect Claim Proceeds in Wash. Federal Ethicon Transvaginal Mesh Case

TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington federal judge has allowed a strict liability design defect claim to go forward in an Ethicon pelvic mesh action, finding there are questions of fact as to whether the claim is time-barred under the state’s products liability act.

In a Nov. 12 order, Judge Benjamin Settle of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington found the evidence is lacking as to whether unclear whether physicians prior to 2013 could and did attribute injuries like the ones the plaintiff experienced to mesh implants.

Crystal Morrow was implanted with an Ethicon transvaginal mesh sling …