A major defendant in the 100,000-case pelvic mesh litigation has subpoenaed the mid-sized Houston law firm AkinMears, as well as several smaller law firms and a company that sells personal-injury claims, seeking documents and testimony related to AkinMears’ acquisition last summer of the smaller firms’ mass torts practices.
The subpoenas – issued Tuesday by American Medical Systems in the consolidated federal court mesh litigation in Charleston, West Virginia – are an unusual development in the long-running case because the medical device company has already agreed to settle most of the claims against it. AMS announced in 2014 that it would pay about $1.6 billion to resolve more than 40,000 filed and unfiled claims by women who alleged its mesh implants caused bleeding, infection and other painful side effects.
Despite the settlement, the company’s defense lawyers have begun challenging some recently filed claims. They contend in court filings that plaintiffs may have undergone unnecessary surgical procedures to make them candidates for bigger settlements. The wide-ranging new subpoenas ask the Florida marketing company, AkinMears and the other law firms to produce documents that may link them to doctors, surgical centers and private investors involved in funding medical procedures for mesh plaintiffs.
