Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuit Move Forward, With Federal Litigation Set to Convene Informational Hearing

Published on October 10, 2018 by Sandy Liebhard

The federal court overseeing the multidistrict litigation recently established for hernia mesh lawsuits involving C.R. Bard Inc.’s polypropylene implants will hold an informational hearing later today.

Topics to Be Addressed at Bard Hernia Mesh Meeting

According to a Pretrial Order issued on October 3^rd by the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, the Case Information Session will cover a range of topics, including:

• An introduction to the Bard hernia mesh products involved in the litigation.
• A summary of the litigation’s history.
• An overview of any ongoing state litigations involving Bard hernia mesh lawsuits.
• Anticipated number of filings in the federal multidistrict litigation.
• Product design issues central to the litigation.
• The use of the products in humans, including alleged injuries.
• Pertinent scientific and medical terminology, as well as an overview of certain medical and scientific issues associated with Bard’s hernia mesh products.

The Court has directed that today’s session will be non-adversarial in nature. Counsel for plaintiffs and the defendants will each have 45 minutes to make their presentations. They will not be permitted to call on any witnesses.

150 Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuits Pending in Federal MDL

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation centralized all federally-filed Bard hernia mesh lawsuits in the Southern District of Ohio last July. Centralization allows the federal docket to undergo coordinated pretrial proceedings before a single judge, thus reducing the potential for duplicative discovery and conflicting pretrial rulings from various federal courts.

Initially, just 53 cases were transferred to the Southern District of Ohio. An update issued by the JPML on September 15^th indicates that the litigation has since grown to include at least 150 filings.

Plaintiffs involved in the federal litigation allege that polypropylene hernia mesh devices manufactured by Bard and its Davol subsidiary are defective and increase the likelihood that recipients will develop serious complications, including adhesions, damage to organs, inflammatory and allergic responses, foreign body rejection, migration of the mesh, and infections. They further claim that the defendants’ have long been aware of the products’ defects, yet they have continued to market their unreasonably dangerous implants without providing doctors and patients with adequate safety warnings. (IN RE: Davol, Inc./C.R. Bard, Inc., Polypropylene Hernia Mesh Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2846)

Polypropylene Hernia Mesh Lawsuits Mounting in Courts Nationwide

The multidistrict litigation established in Ohio is one of three currently underway in federal court that involve allegedly defective polypropylene hernia mesh products.

More than 1,400 hernia mesh lawsuits involving Ethicon, Inc.’s Physiomesh Flexible Composite mesh products are undergoing coordinated pretrial proceedings the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia. (IN RE: Ethicon Physiomesh Flexible Composite Hernia Mesh Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2782)

Physiomesh lawsuits have also been filed in various state courts, including dozens that were recently centralized in New Jersey’s Atlantic County Superior Court.

Ethicon withdrew Physiomesh Flexible Composite mesh from the world market on May 25, 2016, after unpublished registry data indicated that the polypropylene implants were failing at a higher rate when used in laparoscopic ventral hernia repair compared to other hernia devices.

Atrium Medical Corp. is named a defendant in at least 755 hernia mesh lawsuits involving its C-Qur polypropylene implants, all of which have been centralized in a multidistrict litigation now underway in the U.S. District Court, District of New Hampshire. (IN RE: Atrium Medical Corp. C-Qur Mesh Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2753)