The judge overseeing the pelvic mesh mass tort in Philadelphia has denied a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary’s bid to move the consolidated litigation outside of southeastern Pennsylvania.

Ethicon, a J&J subsidiary, had cited intense and allegedly incorrect media attention as the basis for its motion seeking to either have trials moved to a venue outside the five-county Philadelphia area, or have a “pretrial cooling off-period” before beginning the next trial. But Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Arnold New denied the company’s bid late last week. New’s one-page order denying the motion did not outline his reasoning.