June 6, 2016 — Johnson & Johnson has agreed to settlements in all but four morcellator cancer lawsuits.
Settlements range from about $100,000 to $1 million, depending on the injuries and circumstances of each case, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Johnson & Johnson was facing about 40 lawsuits in federal court, but dozens more had not yet been filed. Counting those cases, the total number of lawsuits was nearly 100.
The lawsuits were centralized in federal court in Kansas in a Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2652) under U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil.
On May 27, lawyers for both sides asked Judge Vratil to send the remaining cases back to their home districts because they had “successfully resolved the vast majority of cases filed in the MDL.”
By settling the MDL less than a year after it was established, Johnson & Johnson avoids trials and potentially massive jury verdicts that could raise awareness about the issue. It is likely that many women who were injured or died from uterine sarcoma never realized that a morcellator may have contributed to their illness.
Johnson & Johnson withdrew its morcellator products from the market after the FDA issued warnings in 2014, but never issued any recalls or updated warning labels on the devices. The agency recently ordered other manufacturers to put “Black Box” warnings on morcellators.
The FDA estimates that 1 in 350 women who has fibroid surgery also has uterine cancer. When a morcellator is used in fibroid surgery or a hysterectomy, the spinning blades can disseminate cancer throughout a woman’s abdomen and upstage the cancer.
Every year, nearly 500,000 women in the United States have a hysterectomy or fibroid surgery. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 1,600 women are diagnosed with uterine sarcoma every year.
Do I have a Morcellator Lawsuit?
The Schmidt Firm, PLLC is currently accepting morcellator induced injury cases in all 50 states. If you or somebody you know has been diagnosed with uterine cancer, you should contact our lawyers immediately for a free case consultation. Please use the form below to contact our Defective Drug Litigation Group or call toll free 24 hours a day at (866) 920-0753.
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