CHARLESTON – Less than one month after filing a motion to revise case management procedures and for discovery related to plaintiff solicitation, Johnson & Johnson and Ethicon have filed a new motion to withdraw the previous one.
"Johnson & Johnson and Ethicon move to withdraw their motion to revise case management procedures and for discovery related to plaintiff solicitation ..." the Feb. 10 motion states.
Harry F. Bell Jr. of The Bell Law Firm in Charleston said the withdrawal of the motion speaks volumes.
"This speaks volumes in itself," Bell said. "It's not nice to make accusations."
Bell said people really need to look at the true story and not what is being spun.
"This was a generic filing and never accused any specific person of anything," Bell said.
The motion to revise case management procedures was filed Jan. 14 and accused plaintiffs' attorneys of being fraudulent in their aggressive recruitment of clients for pelvic mesh litigation.
It alleged that women who had not even had mesh surgery were encouraged to lie in order to receive compensation.
On Monday, West Virginia Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse issued a press release regarding the alleged recruiting, calling it another example of how "millionaire personal injury lawyers take advantage of our legal system for person benefit and why West Virginia needs to reform its lawsuit system."
WV CALA declined further comment Wednesday regarding the withdrawal of the motion.
Johnson & Johnson and Ethicon are being represented by Christy D. Jones of Butler Snow LLP; and David B. Thomas of Thomas Combs & Spann PLLC.
The MDL is assigned to District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 2:12-md-02327
