Jury Awards $40M Port Catheter Lawsuit Payout in Bard PowerPort Bellwether Trial

Next Bard PowerPort lawsuit bellwether trial is scheduled to start on October 13, with more trials planned for December and February.

The second in a series of Bard PowerPort lawsuit bellwether trials has ended with a federal jury ordering the manufacturer to pay $40 million to a New Mexico woman who alleged part of her port catheter broke off and became lodged in her heart.

Implantable port catheters have become widely used in the United States for individuals who need repeated or long-term access to the bloodstream, particularly during chemotherapy and other ongoing drug treatments. Their use has increased as more individuals receive complex therapies that require frequent intravenous medications, fluids or blood draws over extended periods.

The devices consist of a small port implanted beneath the skin and a catheter that extends into a large vein, allowing repeated vascular access without the need for frequent peripheral needle sticks.

Port Catheter Fracture & Migration Lawsuits

Kimberly Divelbliss is one of more than 3,700 individuals pursuing product liability lawsuits against C.R. Bard over its line of PowerPort catheter implants. The claims generally allege the devices are defectively designed and prone to catheter fractures and migration, which can allow pieces of the catheter to break away, enter the bloodstream and travel to the heart or lungs.

These complications may require surgery to retrieve catheter fragments or remove the failed implant and have been associated with blood clots, pulmonary embolisms and other serious injuries.

Bard PowerPort lawsuits also allege C.R. Bard failed to adequately warn doctors and consumers about the risk that the catheters could fracture, migrate or otherwise fail after implantation.

As the number of federal claims increased, the lawsuits were centralized in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, where U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell is overseeing coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings as part of a federal multidistrict litigation.

Rather than preparing thousands of individual lawsuits for trial at the same time, Judge Campbell selected six representative cases to go before juries first as bellwether trials. The cases are intended to help both sides evaluate how juries may respond to common evidence, expert testimony and allegations involving PowerPort catheter failures, which could ultimately influence settlement negotiations or how the remaining claims are resolved.

The first Bard PowerPort bellwether trial ended in a defense verdict earlier this year. However, the plaintiff has since filed a motion for mistrial, arguing that the jury received improper instructions and was pressured to reach a verdict before deliberations were complete.

Jury Awards $40 Million in Second Bard PowerPort Trial

The second bellwether trial began on August 18 and involved claims brought by Divelbliss, who alleged her Bard PowerPort fractured inside her body and required emergency surgery.

According to the lawsuit, doctors discovered during the removal procedure that approximately seven inches of catheter had separated from the implanted port. Portions of the catheter allegedly traveled through her bloodstream and became lodged in the right side of her heart.

Following the trial, the Arizona federal jury returned a verdict (PDF) on September 4, finding C.R. Bard and its parent company, Becton Dickinson, liable for design defect, failure to warn, negligent design defect and negligent failure to warn.

The jury awarded Divelbliss $40 million in compensatory damages but declined to award punitive damages, marking the first substantial plaintiff recovery in the Bard PowerPort bellwether program.

Bard PowerPort Lawsuit Bellwether Trials

The next bellwether trial is slated to begin on October 13, involving claims brought by May Lattanzio, of Florida. Attorneys have agreed that the Lattanzio trial will be divided into at least two phases, with any punitive damages considered separately during a later phase. The final pretrial conference is scheduled for September 15.

Additional PowerPort bellwether trials are scheduled for December 1, 2026, and February 2, 2027.

Although the verdicts will not determine the outcome of other claims, the results are being closely watched because they may help the parties evaluate the strength and potential settlement value of thousands of similar lawsuits.

If no settlement or other resolution is reached once the bellwether trials are completed, Judge Campbell could begin remanding cases back to their original federal court districts for individual trial dates.

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