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400 Swedish women win compensation over faulty French breast implants
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French lawyer of the plaintiffs Laurent Gaudon (R) and his clients who have received Poly Implant Prothese company (PIP) implants, await the start of the trial against German TÜV group for breaching its obligations of inspection and certification procedures, on March 22, 2013 in Toulon, southern France. PIP shut down in 2010 after it was revealed to have been using substandard industrial-grade silicone gel. Between 400,000 and 500,000 women in 65 countries -- including 30,000 in France alone -- are believed to have implants from PIP, once the world's third-largest silicone implant producer. AFP PHOTO / GERARD JULIEN
GERARD JULIEN / AFP (AFP/Gerard Julien)
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French court on Thursday ordered the German safety certifier that approved tne use of defective breast implants to compensate around 400 Swedish women who received the devices behind a global health scare.
The court in the Paris suburb of Nanterre ordered TUV to pay 4,600 euros ($5,200) to each of the Swedish plaintiffs for the harm caused by approving implants made by French firm Poly Implant Prothese (PIP).
It also ordered the company to reimburse the cost of having the implants -- which were filled with a cheap industrial-grade silicone gel used in electronic equipment -- removed.
It comes a month after France's highest appeals court ordered that TUV be retried for negligence over its role in the affair, after having been cleared of liability by a lower court.
Pipa, an association representing 20,000 affected by the implants around the world, welcomed the ruling.
But a lawyer for TUV said the German agency would appeal.
A separate court ruling in January 2017 ordered the company to deposit 60 million euros ($69 million) for potential compensation for 20,000 women who received the defective implants.
The PIP implant scandal made global headlines in 2011, when doctors first noticed abnormally high rupture rates in the implants.
Some 400,000 women worldwide, most of them in Latin America, are believed to have received the enhancements.
Thousands had them removed, despite health authorities in several countries declaring them not to be toxic.
PIP's founder, Jean-Claude Mas, was convicted of fraud and sentenced to four years in jail. His company was shut down in 2010.
