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March 28, 2023

Bellwether Trial for Bard Hernia Mesh Rescheduled.

Originally expected to take place in May 2023, the third bellwether trial for a Bard hernia mesh lawsuit has been rescheduled to October 16 by the U.S. District Judge. Cases against the Bard Perfix plug claim that the surgical mesh is defective, thus causing painful complications post-operation.

The Third Bellwether Trial

This bellwether test trial is part of a series of court trials designed to provide insight into what each party can expect from a jury’s response to the evidence and testimonies for the first of over 18,000 individual lawsuits filed against C.R. Bard. Each of these cases is part of a mass tort federal MDL (multidistrict litigation) and raises similar allegations against the defendant.

The allegations against C.R. Bard claim that victims suffered life-changing medical and financial burdens after the implantation of Bard’s PerFix Plug, Bard Ventralight, Bard 3DMax, and other polypropylene products during hernia mesh surgery. Plaintiffs insist that these products are defective and hazardous, expecting significant compensation for the damages they sustained after implantation.

U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. is presiding over the centralized litigation as of August 2018. Back on March 17, Judge Sargus issued the case management order that triggered the reschedule for October 2023. The first pretrial conference will be held on October 10. This means that all unresolved objections must be presented to the court by September 8, and updated witness lists are due by June 2 for the plaintiffs and June 16 for the defendant.

AFTER THE TRIAL

Remember, the outcome of this bellwether trial may not permanently impact the pending hernia mesh lawsuits. However, this trial should tell us what the settlement negotiations will look like; as more hernia mesh lawsuits arise, the size of the MDL will continue to grow. If Bard is unable to reach settlements following the bellwether trials, hundreds of individual claims may likely be pushed back to the U.S. District Courts nationwide by Judge Sargus.

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