A New Jersey jury on Thursday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $7.76 million in punitive damages to a woman who claimed she was injured by a vaginal mesh implant made by a company unit, according to the Associated Press. The amount is in addition to the $3.35 million in compensatory damages awarded by the state Superior Court jury on Monday, bringing the total in damages to $11.1 million, the report said. The verdict is the first among about 4,000 lawsuits filed against New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). A spokeswoman with Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon unit, which made the device, told the AP the company would “vigorously pursue an appeal.”
