Nationally-watched litigation prompted by complications arising from a medical mesh implant used to treat hernias has been consolidated as multidistrict litigation and will be adjudicated in the Northern District of Georgia.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued the transfer order in In Re: Ethicon Physiomesh Flexible Composite Hernia Mesh on Friday, assigning the case to U.S. District Judge Richard Story.

Story, who has not previously handled multidistrict litigation, will preside over about 50 product liability cases pending against Johnson & Johnson and its corporate subsidiary Ethicon.