Gravitt v. Mentor Worldwide, LLC

289 F. Supp. 3d 877
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Illinois
DecidedJanuary 11, 2018
Docket17 C 5428
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 289 F. Supp. 3d 877 (Gravitt v. Mentor Worldwide, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gravitt v. Mentor Worldwide, LLC, 289 F. Supp. 3d 877 (illinoised 2018).

Opinion

Gary Feinerman, United States District Judge

Catherine and Travis Gravitt, a married couple, filed this suit in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, against Mentor Worldwide, the manufacturer of a silicone breast implant called MemoryGel, which the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") has classified as a Class III medical device. Doc. 1-2. Catherine brings claims under Illinois tort law for Mentor's alleged noncompliance with the FDA's premarket approval process for Class III devices, alleged failure to warn consumers of the risks posed by MemoryGel implants, and allegedly defective design and manufacture of the implants. Travis brings a loss of consortium claim. Mentor removed the suit to federal court, Doc. 1, and now moves under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) to dismiss the complaint, Doc. 11. The motion is granted in part and denied in part.

Background

In resolving a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the court assumes the truth of the operative complaint's well-pleaded factual allegations, though not its legal conclusions. See Zahn v. N. Am. Power & Gas, LLC , 815 F.3d 1082, 1087 (7th Cir. 2016). The court must also consider "documents attached to the complaint, documents that are critical to the complaint and referred to in it, and information that is subject to proper judicial *881notice," along with additional facts set forth in Plaintiffs' brief opposing dismissal, so long as those additional facts "are consistent with the pleadings." Phillips v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am. , 714 F.3d 1017, 1019-20 (7th Cir. 2013). The facts are set forth as favorably to Plaintiffs as those materials allow. See Pierce v. Zoetis, Inc. , 818 F.3d 274, 277 (7th Cir. 2016). In setting forth those facts at the pleading stage, the court does not vouch for their accuracy. See Jay E. Hayden Found. v. First Neighbor Bank, N.A. , 610 F.3d 382, 384 (7th Cir. 2010).

A. MemoryGel

Mentor manufactures a product called MemoryGel, a breast implant made of silicone gel. Doc. 1-2 at ¶ 6. The FDA has classified silicone breast implants as Class III medical devices-a classification reserved for devices that pose an especially significant risk to patients. Id. at ¶¶ 15-16. Under 21 U.S.C. § 360e, a Class III device manufacturer must obtain premarket approval ("PMA") from the FDA before marketing the device to the public. Id. at ¶ 16. As part of the PMA process, the manufacturer must provide the agency with a description of the manufacturing process and a summary of studies addressing the device's risks and benefits. Id. at ¶¶ 17(b), (d); see 21 U.S.C. § 360e. The manufacturer must also provide the agency with "[a]ny other data or information relevant to an evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of the device known or that should be reasonably be known to the manufacturer from any source." Doc. 1-2 at ¶ 17(g); see 21 U.S.C. § 360e.

In a letter dated November 17, 2006 (the "November 2006 letter"), the FDA provided Mentor with PMA for the use of MemoryGel as a breast augmentation device. Id. at ¶ 20; Doc. 12-1. In connection with that approval, and pursuant to its authority under 21 C.F.R. §§ 814.80 and 814.82, the FDA required Mentor to conduct six-post approval studies designed to address issues not raised during the PMA process. Doc. 1-2 at ¶ 21; Doc. 12-1 at 3-5. Specifically, the FDA required Mentor to conduct: (1) a core post-approval study to assess the long-term clinical performance of breast implants among women who had participated in the studies supporting the company's PMA application; (2) a large post-approval study to assess long-term outcomes and identify rare adverse events among a new sample of 40,000 patients who had not participated in the earlier studies; (3) a device failure study to describe the modes and causes of failure of MemoryGel implants; (4) a focus group study to improve the form and content of patient labeling; (5) an annual physician-informed decision survey to monitor how patient labeling is distributed to women considering silicone gel breast implants ; and (6) an adjunct survey to provide performance and safety information about silicone gel implants from 1992 to 2006, when the agency barred new patients from being treated with such implants. Doc. 1-2 at ¶ 21; Doc. 12-1 at 3-5. Pertinent here, the November 2006 letter required that Mentor "continue [the] Core Study until all patients have completed their 10-year evaluation" and report that study's results for ten years, and include 41,900 Mentor silicone gel patients in the large post-approval study. Doc. 12-1 at 3.

Mentor conducted the required follow-up studies, albeit with some omissions and other lacunae. As for participants in the core study who had MemoryGel implants for at least nine years, Mentor's follow-up rate did not exceed 59 percent. Doc. 1-2 at ¶ (30)(a)(2). Mentor reported study results for only six years rather than the required ten. Id. at ¶ 30(a)(3). Mentor reported the reasons for re-operation for only 36 percent of those members of the primary augmentation cohort who had undergone a subsequent operation. Id. at ¶ 30(a)(4). For *882the revision augmentation cohort, Mentor reported only the most common reason for re-operation. Id. at ¶ 30(a)(5).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
289 F. Supp. 3d 877, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gravitt-v-mentor-worldwide-llc-illinoised-2018.