The Buzz | No compensation over faulty breast implants

A French appeals court ruled yesterday that a German product-testing company does not have to compensate more than 3,000 women with leak-prone breast implants — and now women who sued may have to pay back USD6.4 million in collective damages they received in a lower-court ruling. Tens of thousands of women worldwide received implants made by French company PIP, or Poly Implant Prothese. The implants were found to contain industrial-grade silicone instead of medical silicone and were prone to leakage. PIP’s owner was sentenced to prison for fraud, but his bankrupt company couldn’t pay damages. So the women’s lawyers sought compensation from German testing company TUV Rheinland and its French subsidiary instead. A commercial court ordered TUV in 2013 to pay damages to women and six distributors, ruling that the testing company failed to properly check the implants.