4,000 Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuits Pend in Multidistrict Litigation

More than 4,000 hernia mesh lawsuits against Bard currently pend in the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL), and more are expected to be filed in upcoming months.

Growing numbers of individuals continue to file lawsuits against hernia mesh manufacturers as patients discover their painful injuries and complications were caused by defective hernia mesh implants.

Experts originally predicted that 3,000 hernia mesh cases would be filed against hernia mesh manufacturer and seller C.R. Bard by the end of 2019. However, a recent pretrial order released October 4 revealed that at least 4,069 product liability lawsuits are filed in the Bard MDL. This includes lawsuits against Bard for design problems with Bard Ventralex, Bard Perfix, Bard Composix, and other Bard polypropylene mesh products. Because many patients injured by mesh implants are not sure of the specific brand or type of implant they received, the litigation will likely continue to grow as hernia mesh lawyers investigate injury claims.

Medical device manufacturer C.R. Bard originally faced only a couple hundred product liability lawsuits at the beginning of 2019. These lawsuits claimed design problems with models of Bard’s hernia mesh implants caused patients to suffer from painful complications.

Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., presiding judge over the Bard hernia mesh litigation, released the current number of lawsuits in a Status Conference on October 1st. The litigation’s Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee (PSC) estimates that roughly 400 hernia mesh lawsuits are filed on a monthly basis. This number is expected to rise as hernia mesh lawyers continue to review and file claims on behalf of injured hernia mesh implant patients.

Judge Sargus scheduled the next status conference for November 14th. This conference will provide more details on how the Bard litigation is progressing.

Bard Hernia Mesh Implant Litigation

All Bard hernia mesh implant claims pending in the federal court system are centralized before Judge Sargus in the Southern District of Ohio as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL). The MDL was created to help organize and address Bard hernia mesh lawsuits raising the same questions of fact and law.

Earlier this year Judge Sargus created a “bellwether” process to address all current and pending Bard hernia mesh lawsuits. Bellwether processes typically help the court see how juries will react to specific evidence that may be repeatedly presented throughout the trial process.

A small group of representative claims are currently being prepared for a set of early trial dates. They are expected to start between May and September 2020.

While the results of these trials do not determine the outcomes of other claims, they may help both parties work towards a hernia mesh settlement with Bard and other hernia mesh manufacturers. A litigation settlement would help avoid hundreds of individual cases being remanded back to the courts they were originally field in for individual trial dates.