It’s time once again for the Great Texas Warrant Roundup. The grace period (Phase One) began on February 18^th, and the Enforcement Period (Phase 2) will begin on March 2, 2013. This Warrant Roundup is expected to have even more Texas jurisdictions joining in—last year there were approximately 260, this year that number is expected to be 300 or more. The Roundup specifically targets those with traffic, parking, city ordinance or penal code warrants.

Just this past week, a jury in Atlantic County, New Jersey, awarded a South Dakota plaintiff, Linda Gross, $3.35 million dollars for injuries suffered from the implantation of Johnson & Johnson Ethicon vaginal mesh. A second phase will follow in which jurors will consider punitive damages as well. New Jersey law currently permits punitive damages of up to five times the compensatory damage amount. In a trial which took over six weeks, Gross v. Ethicon is the first of over 4,000 vaginal mesh lawsuits currently filed against Johnson & Johnson regarding their mesh products.

Almost everyone is familiar with Johnson & Johnson—after all their reach extends to virtually every industry in the medical sector. Unfortunately, the warm and fuzzy feelings many of us have regarding J & J as a result of their marketing of baby products is fading fast amidst the recent rash of recalls and lawsuits.