Nowell v. Medtronic Inc.
| Decision Date | 29 March 2019 |
| Docket Number | No. CIV 17-1010 JB\SMV,CIV 17-1010 JB\SMV |
| Citation | 372 F.Supp.3d 1166 |
| Parties | Janice NOWELL, Plaintiff, v. MEDTRONIC INC.; Covidien PLC; Coviden LP, and Medtronic PLC, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Mexico |
Jason S. Montclare, Law Office of Jason S. Montclare, Esq., Alamogordo, New Mexico, Attorney for the Plaintiff
Alex Cameron Walker, Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk, P.A., Albuquerque, New Mexico and Joseph G. Petrosinelli, Ana C. Reyes, Williams & Connolly LLP, Washington, D.C., Attorneys for the Defendants
THIS MATTER comes before the Court on the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss, filed March 23, 2018 (Doc. 27)("MTD"). The Court held a hearing on August 10, 2018. The primary issues are: (i) whether the applicable statutes of limitations bar Plaintiff Janice Nowell's claims against Defendants Medtronic Inc., Covidien PLC, Covidien LP, and Medtronic PLC for negligence, strict liability -- design defect, manufacturing defect, and failure-to-warn -- breach of express warranty, and breach of implied warranty; and (ii) whether Nowell has alleged with specificity how the Defendants' product is defective and how that defect caused her injuries. The Court will grant the MTD. Nowell's warranty claims are untimely, because Nowell alleges that her physician used the Defendants' defective product to repair her hernia1 on October 27, 2010, but Nowell did not file her original Complaint for Damages for Personal Injury Resulting From Negligence, Strict Liability and Breach of Warranties (Doc. 1)("Complaint"), until October 5, 2017, almost three years after the expiration of the four-year statute of limitations governing express and implied warranty claims. See N.M. Stat. Ann. § 55-2-725(1). Nowell's negligence and strict liability claims are untimely, because the Second Amended Complaint for Damages for Personal Injury Resulting from Negligence, Strict Liability and Breach of Warranties, filed January 19, 2018 (Doc. 24-1)("Amended Complaint"), indicates that Nowell was aware of cognizable tort injuries between April, 2011, and March, 2014, but did not file her original Complaint until October 5, 2017, after the three-year statute of limitations governing negligence and strict liability claims had expired. See N.M. Stat. Ann. § 37-1-8. Moreover, the Court concludes that Nowell's factual allegations lack specificity sufficient to satisfy the pleading standard that the Supreme Court of the United States of America articulated in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). Nowell's negligence claim does not plead facts alleging causation. Her strict liability claims do not allege any specific defect -- in either design, manufacture, or warning -- that made the Defendants' product unreasonably dangerous and caused her injuries. Moreover, Nowell has not alleged that a feasible alternative design existed which lacked the alleged design defect and that therefore would have prevented her injuries. See Morales v. E.D. Etnyre & Co., 382 F.Supp.2d 1278, 1283 (D.N.M. 2005) (Browning, J.)("Thus, to the extent that a plaintiff could come to court and merely criticize a product, the Court believes that the New Mexico law required the plaintiff to propose an alternative design."). Nowell does not allege an affirmation or representation that could support her express warranty claim. Furthermore, Nowell does not allege with sufficient specificity a defect that rendered the Defendants' product sufficiently unfit for its particular purpose or sufficiently unmerchantable to support her claim for breach of implied warranty. Finally, Nowell has not alleged facts sufficient to support a finding that the Defendants' conduct maliciously, intentionally, fraudulently, oppressively, recklessly, or wantonly offended Nowell's rights such that Nowell is entitled to punitive damages. Accordingly, the Court will grant the MTD and dismiss the case with prejudice.
The Court takes the facts from the Amended Complaint. As this matter comes before the Court on a motion to dismiss pursuant to rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court assumes that all facts in the Complaint are true, see Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (), and "grants all reasonable inferences from the pleadings in that party's favor," Sanders v. Mountain Am. Fed. Credit Union, 689 F.3d 1138, 1141 (10th Cir. 2012).
According to the Amended Complaint, on October 27, 2010, Nowell had an operation with Dr. William Pollard to repair a fifteen centimeter "superiorperiumbilical hernia." Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8. At the time, Dr. Pollard implanted a twenty centimeter "Parietex Mesh Composite"2 to repair Nowell's hernia. Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8. Subsequently, the mesh began to "pull away from the actual edges," and on April 27, 2011, Nowell had a second surgery wherein Dr. Pollard used additional sutures to reinforce the existing Parietex mesh. Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8. Dr. Pollard did not inform Nowell of any problems with the mesh and, after the surgery, noted that Nowell "was doing well." Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8. Between April 27, 2011, and March 1, 2014, Nowell "began experiencing symptoms including but not limited to exhaustion and pain in the area of the mesh." Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8. During this period, "Nowell was skeptical as to whether the mesh was causing these problems"; however, Dr. Pollard did not advise her that the mesh was causing these issues. Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8. On March 1, 2014, Nowell underwent a CT scan.3 See Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8. The physicians who performed Nowell's CT scan neither concluded nor advised Nowell that the mesh was causing her issues. See Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8. The physicians were unable to diagnose the symptoms' cause, because Nowell "apparently had cysts in the area associated with the mesh." Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8. On October 6, 2014, Nowell underwent another CT scan, which "revealed a large fluid collection associated with the mesh" and a corresponding staph infection.4 Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8. On October 8, 2014, "Dr. Powell"5 informed Nowell that "there was no choice but to remove the Parietex mesh and replace it with a biological mesh," which he "memorialized ... in his treatment notes." Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8. Moreover, during this discussion, Dr. Pollard told Nowell "that there was a problem with the mesh itself." Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8. "On or about October 20, 2014," Dr. Pollard removed the "infected and disintegrated (unincorporated)" Parietex mesh from Nowell's abdomen. Amended Complaint ¶ 38, at 8.
On October 5, 2017, Nowell filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, alleging six causes of action: (i) negligence; (ii) strict liability -- design defect; (iii) strict liability -- manufacturing defect; (iv) strict liability -- failure-to-warn; (v) breach of express warranty; and (vi) breach of implied warranty. See Complaint ¶¶ 103-155, at 18-32, filed October 5, 2017 (Doc. 1)("Complaint"). Nowell subsequently amended the Complaint on October 6, 2017, see First Amended Complaint for Damages for Personal Injury Resulting from Negligence, Strict Liability and Breach of Warranties, filed October 6, 2017 (Doc. 4), and again on January 19, 2018, but alleges the same claims, see Amended Complaint ¶¶ 103-155, at 22-36.
Nowell contends that the Defendants were negligent in failing to use reasonable care and breached their duty to Nowell "in designing, manufacturing, marketing, labeling, packaging and selling" the mesh. Amended Complaint ¶ 104, at 22. Specifically, Nowell contends that the mesh's design "did not provide for sufficient resiliency which caused the Product to disintegrate in Plaintiff," and that the mesh's manufacturing process caused "an unreasonable risk of harm to women in whom the Product was implanted, including the Plaintiff." Amended Complaint ¶ 105, at 23. Nowell further alleges that the Defendants did not use reasonable care in the mesh's testing and inspection, in instructing physicians in how to use the mesh, and in evaluating the mesh's safety "to determine the nature, magnitude, and frequency of serious, life threatening complications that were known or knowable." Amended Complaint ¶ 105, at 23. Nowell further alleges that the Defendants' mesh is unreasonably dangerous and defective, because the mesh material causes adverse reactions and injuries; the mesh design facilitated harmful bacteria growth, which caused "immune reactions and subsequent tissue breakdown and adverse reactions and injuries;" and the mesh has a propensity "to disintegrate inside the body," "to deform when subject to prolonged tension inside the body," to cause "adverse tissue reactions," and to create "a non-anatomic condition in the abdomen leading to chronic pain and functional disabilities when the mesh is implant[ed] according to the manufacturers instructions." Amended Complaint ¶ 106, at 23-24. Nowell adds that her "adverse tissue reactions ... are causally related to infection, as the materials used to construct the Product are foreign." Amended Complaint ¶ 106, at 24.
Nowell also alleges that the Defendants "negligently failed to warn" her and/or her healthcare providers about the mesh's "propensities to deform inside the body," about "degradation, fragmentation and/or creep," about "the rate and manner of mesh erosion or extrusion," and about the mesh's risks, including "chronic infections" and "recurrent, intractable abdominal pain and other pain." Amended Complaint ¶ 107, at 24-25. The Defendants' duty to...
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