Bard Vaginal Mesh Lawsuit Scheduled for Trial to Begin Sept. 23 in N.J.

A New Jersey judge has scheduled the first trial date for a Bard vaginal mesh lawsuit to begin in late September, serving as a “bellwether” case in the state court litigation, where hundreds of similar lawsuits are pending.  

In an order (PDF) issued late last month, Judge Carol E. Higbee set out a new schedule for early test cases in the state involving vaginal mesh manufactured by C.R. Bard, indicating that a trial will begin on September 23 for a case brought by a woman who received the mesh transvaginally for repair of pelvic organ prolapse (POP).

Judge Higbee is presiding over the centralized New Jersey state court litigation involving more than 550 lawsuits over Bard vaginal mesh (PDF) and more than 3,000 lawsuits over Ethicon’s Gynecare pelvic mesh (PDF).

All of the cases involve similar allegations raised by women who experienced painful and debilitating complications from vaginal mesh implanted to treat pelvic organ prolapse or female stress urinary incontinence. The lawsuits maintain that the surgical mesh products manufactured by C.R. Bard and Ethicon were defectively designed and pose a risk of eroding through the vagina, causing infections and other serious health problems.

The specific case that will go before a jury has not yet been selected, as Judge Higbee has indicated that it will be chosen from a pool of four cases that will be identified by the parties before July 2.

A prior vaginal mesh trial held before Judge Higbee earlier this year resulted in a jury award of $11.1 million in damages to a woman who experienced complications from Ethicon’s Gynecare Prolift mesh, including $7.76 million in punitive damages designed to punish the manufacturer for failing to warn about the risks associated with their mesh.

These early trial dates serve as “bellwether” cases, because they are designed to help the parties gauge how juries are likely to respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the litigation.

Federal Vaginal Mesh Litigation

In addition to the New Jersey state court cases, more than 12,500 vaginal mesh lawsuits are pending throughout the federal court system, where the cases have been centralized as part of 6 different MDLs or multidistrict litigations, involving products manufactured by C.R. Bard, Ethicon, American Medical Systems (AMS), Boston Scientific, Coloplast and Cook Medical.

Each of the MDLs established for the different medical device manufacturers are centralized before U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin in the Southern District of West Virginia.

According to recent case list released by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation last month, Judge Goodwin is currently presiding over at least 2,938 Bard Avaulta mesh lawsuits, 6,028 AMS vaginal mesh lawsuits, 3,557 Boston Scientific pelvic mesh lawsuits, 5,763 Ethicon Gynecare mesh lawsuits and 320 Coloplast bladder slings lawsuits.

A small group of cases are also being prepared for early trial dates in each of the MDLs, with the first Bard Avaulta lawsuits scheduled for trial to begin on July 8, with a series of four cases to go before a jury. Later this year or early next year, additional trials are expected in the federal court system involving products manufactured by AMS, Ethicon and Boston Scientific.

The outcomes of these trials may influence negotiations to settle vaginal mesh lawsuits. If settlements or other resolutions are not reached, the manufacturers could face thousands of individual trials in courts throughout the country over the coming years.