Johnson & Johnson Mesh Lawsuit Update: Settlements, Verdicts, MDL

The Johnson & Johnson pelvic mesh lawsuit has largely wound down but is not finished. All seven federal multidistrict litigations covering transvaginal mesh have closed, roughly 95% of the estimated 100,000+ claims have been resolved, and manufacturers across the litigation have paid an estimated $8 billion in verdicts and settlements.¹ Hundreds of cases against Ethicon and Bard remain active in New Jersey multicounty litigation, and women continue to file new individual suits in state courts, especially in New Jersey, Minnesota, and Massachusetts.²

Where Cases Stand in 2026

Ethicon is still settling individual cases. Several Ethicon lawsuits settled in principle in early 2026, with the parties asking courts for inactive status while final terms are worked out. Compensation on strong individual cases has been running higher than the averages that came out of the federal MDL, with reported settlement ranges of roughly $150,000 to $1.2 million depending on injury severity and whether the plaintiff underwent revision surgery. Some courts have expanded mediation programs to move groups of claims through without holding up trial-ready cases.²

The main open legal question for people still considering a case is the statute of limitations. Courts are actively disputing when the clock starts: at implantation, when symptoms worsen, or when the mesh is surgically removed.²

What the Lawsuits Are About

Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, sold polypropylene mesh implants under the Gynecare brand to treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence. Products named in the litigation include the TVT sling, TVT-O, TVT Abbrevo, Prolift, Prosima, and Gynemesh.³ Women reported the mesh eroding through vaginal tissue or into nearby organs, causing chronic pain, bleeding, recurring infection, painful intercourse, nerve damage, and urinary dysfunction. Removal is itself a complex procedure that may not resolve symptoms.⁴

One boundary worth flagging: no surgical mesh for transvaginal prolapse repair is currently marketed in the United States. The FDA ordered remaining manufacturers to stop selling those products on April 16, 2019, after finding the submitted data did not show reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness. Ethicon had already withdrawn several of its prolapse mesh products before the order.⁵ Slings for stress urinary incontinence were not covered by that order.

The California Judgment and the Supreme Court

The largest single government action against Johnson & Johnson on mesh came out of California. On January 30, 2020, San Diego Superior Court Judge Eddie Sturgeon ordered the company and Ethicon to pay $343.99 million in civil penalties following a nine-week trial. The case, brought in 2016 by then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra, alleged deceptive marketing of pelvic mesh between 2008 and 2014, a period in which Ethicon sold more than 30,000 units in California and over 470,000 nationally.⁶

Judge Sturgeon found the company violated California’s Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law, writing that Ethicon “intentionally concealed the risks” and had taken “active, willful measures for nearly twenty years to suppress information and conceal serious risk and complication information from physicians and patients.”⁶ The state had asked for $800 million.⁷

A California appellate court later upheld the core of the ruling but reduced the penalty to roughly $302 million, finding that about $42 million assessed for oral sales pitches to doctors was unsupported by sufficient evidence of what representatives actually said in those conversations. The penalties tied to written marketing materials were affirmed.⁸

Johnson & Johnson took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that California’s false advertising and unfair competition laws did not give “fair notice” of penalties this large for marketing materials not proven to have reached consumers. On February 21, 2023, the Supreme Court denied certiorari. The $302 million judgment stands.⁹

The 2019 Multistate Settlement

On October 17, 2019, Johnson & Johnson and Ethicon agreed to pay $116.86 million to settle claims brought by 41 states and the District of Columbia over failure to adequately disclose mesh risks and misleading marketing.¹⁰

Beyond the money, the settlement restricted Ethicon’s future marketing of remaining products. The company cannot describe mesh as “FDA approved” where that characterization does not apply, cannot claim surgical technique alone eliminates risks, cannot assert that the mesh remains soft or stretches after implantation, and cannot characterize foreign body reactions as merely temporary. Ethicon is also required to disclose a detailed list of complications in marketing materials and instructions for use, and to include mesh risks in training for medical professionals.¹⁰

Washington state settled separately for $9.9 million, announced in April 2019, over allegations that Johnson & Johnson violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act by omitting known risks from marketing and physician instructions for devices sold from 1999 through late 2015. The funds went to restitution for women implanted in Washington, with claims accepted through June 11, 2020.¹¹

Recent Jury Verdicts

Individual trials against Ethicon produced escalating jury awards heading into 2020. In April 2019, a Philadelphia jury awarded plaintiff Susan McFarland $120 million ($20 million compensatory, $100 million punitive) over injuries from a TVT-O mesh implanted in 2008. It was the largest mesh verdict against Ethicon at that time.¹² A separate Philadelphia trial in the same period produced an $80 million verdict for plaintiff Mesigian. Ethicon said it would appeal both.¹³

Earlier bellwether trials in the federal MDL had produced awards of $11.1 million (2013, Prolift), $3.27 million (2014, TVT Obturator), $12.5 million (2015), $20 million (2017), and $35 million (2018) against Ethicon.¹⁴¹⁵

How the Federal MDL Resolved

Thousands of federal cases against Ethicon were consolidated in November 2011 as MDL 2327, In re: Ethicon, Inc. Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, before Judge Joseph R. Goodwin in the Southern District of West Virginia. At its peak the MDL held roughly 33,000 Ethicon claims and was one of seven mesh MDLs together covering about 66,000 lawsuits.¹⁴

Johnson & Johnson’s first large mesh settlement came in January 2016, when the company paid more than $120 million to resolve between 2,000 and 3,000 lawsuits, with per-claimant amounts varying by case strength.¹⁶ MDL 2327 was officially terminated on March 19, 2021.¹⁷

Cases Outside the U.S.

Australian women pursued a class action filed in October 2012 on behalf of 1,350 plaintiffs. After Johnson & Johnson’s appeals failed, the Australian Federal Court approved a $300 million settlement in March 2023, described as the largest product liability class action settlement in the country’s history. Justice Lee called the figure the “lowest end” of fair and reasonable and criticized Ethicon for having “dragged out the dispute interminably.” Roughly $174 million was estimated to remain for group members after third-party payments and legal costs.¹⁸

In England, 140 women reached an undisclosed settlement with Johnson & Johnson, Bard, and Boston Scientific in August 2024. It was reported as the first successful product liability group action of its kind in that country. Separate settlements have been reached in Scotland and Wales.¹⁹

1
Drugwatch. Transvaginal Mesh Verdicts and Settlements
2
Lawsuit Information Center. Vaginal Mesh Lawsuits in 2026
3
National Center for Biotechnology Information. 510(k) Clearance History of Ethicon Pelvic Mesh Products
4
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Management of Mesh and Graft Complications in Gynecologic Surgery
5
FDA. Urogynecologic Surgical Mesh Implants
6
California Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General Becerra Secures Nearly $344 Million Judgment Against Johnson & Johnson
7
The New York Times. Johnson & Johnson Ordered to Pay $344 Million in Transvaginal Mesh Case
8
MD+DI Online. J&J’s Ethicon to Pay $302M in Pelvic Mesh Marketing Case
9
Supreme Court of the United States. Docket No. 22-447, Johnson & Johnson v. California
10
New York Attorney General. Johnson & Johnson and Subsidiary Pay $117 Million Settlement After Endangering Women
11
Washington Attorney General. Johnson & Johnson Will Pay $9.9 Million for Failing to Disclose Risk of Its Surgical Mesh Devices
12
MassDevice. Plaintiff Wins $120M in Latest Pelvic Mesh Trial Against Johnson & Johnson Unit
13
MedTech Dive. Philadelphia Jury Awards $80M in J&J Pelvic Mesh Suit
14
Legal Newsline. W.Va. Jury Awards $3.27 Million in Transvaginal Mesh MDL Case
15
The Indiana Lawyer. Indiana Woman Wins $35 Million Verdict in Pelvic Mesh Lawsuit
16
MassDevice. Johnson & Johnson to Pay $120M in First Mesh Settlement
17
U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia. MDL 2327 Case Information
18
Maddocks. Settlement Approval for Pelvic Mesh Class Action Against Johnson & Johnson and Ethicon
19
The Guardian. 140 Women in England Receive Compensation for Vaginal Mesh Implant Complications