Salinero v. Johnson & Johnson

Charlotte Salinero (plaintiff) suffered from pelvic organ prolapse. Her doctor, Jamie Sepulveda, surgically implanted Artisyn Y-Mesh to keep Salinero’s organs in place. The mesh was manufactured by Ethicon, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (collectively, Johnson) (defendants). After the surgery, Salinero developed other severe health problems, which she attributed to the mesh. She filed a diversity action against Johnson in federal court, asserting various claims under Florida law. One claim was a strict-products-liability claim alleging that the mesh’s instructions for use failed to adequately warn of the mesh’s risks. Johnson moved for summary judgment, arguing that, under the learned-intermediary doctrine, Johnson had a duty to warn physicians about the mesh’s risks but did not have a duty to warn end users like Salinero. Sepulveda testified that he was aware of the mesh’s risks at the time of the surgery and that he still believed using the mesh was the right decision in Salinero’s case. Salinero argued that Sepulveda’s testimony should not be relied upon because Sepulveda had a long-running relationship with Johnson under which Sepulveda had earned approximately $2 million by consulting, conducting trainings, and serving as an expert witness. The district court concluded there was no financial-bias exception to the learned-intermediary doctrine under Florida law. It therefore granted summary judgment to Johnson on the failure-to-warn claim. Salinero appealed.