Thirsk v. Ethicon, Inc.

ENOCH, Chief Judge.

In this products liability action, defendant Ethicon, Inc., appeals from the judgments for each of the plaintiffs entered on the jury’s verdicts. We reverse and remand.

The plaintiffs, Walter Thirsk, Mack Whitaker, and Billy Hollis, whose cases were consolidated for trial, sued defendant claiming that in the course of surgery, they had become infected by a surgical bone wax manufactured by defendant. They alleged that the wax was contaminated with the organism, mycobacterium fortuitum. The cases were tried on the theory of strict liability.

I

Ethicon first contends that the…