More Than 1,700 Bard PowerPort Lawsuits Now Filed in State and Federal Courts

Lawyers for plaintiffs and defendants have agreed on the first Bard PowerPort lawsuit that should go to trial, to help gauge how juries will respond to evidence that will be repeated in the litigation.

A growing number of product liability lawsuits continue to be filed throughout the U.S. involving allegations that Bard PowerPort devices are defectively designed, leading to infections, fractures and catastrophic failures, which often result in the need for emergency surgery to remove the port catheter system.

The Bard PowerPort is a totally implantable vascular access device (TIVAD), which is used to deliver chemotherapy drugs and other medications directly into a patient’s bloodstream. It includes an injection port site where the needle is inserted, and a polyurethane catheter tube that delivers the fluids to the patient’s body.

Although it has been sold as a safe and effective medical device, lawsuits now allege that the catheter material is prone to degrade and break down inside the body, increasing the risk of infections, implant fractures, migration injuries and other complications.

According to new court records, there are currently more than 1,700 Bard PowerPort lawsuits pending in federal and state courts nationwide, each involving claims that the company placed a desire for profits before the health and safety of consumers.

As lawyers move forward with plans to prepare a small group of bellwether lawsuits for early test trials over the next year, it appears likely that the number of new lawsuits over the Bard PowerPort will continue to be filed, as many patients and surviving family members are just now learning about the allegations raised in the litigation.

All claims filed at the federal level have been consolidated into a Bard PowerPort lawsuit multidistrict litigation (MDL), which is centralized in the District of Arizona under U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell, who is presiding over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

To help the parties evaluate how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony likely to be repeated throughout the litigation, Judge Campbell previously established a “bellwether” process, where the parties will prepare a small group of representative claims for early trial dates.

Last month, Judge Campbell announced the selection of six Bard PowerPort lawsuits that are eligible for the first bellwether trials, along with one alternate. While the parties are scheduled to meet today to discuss the status of the litigation and the next steps in preparing the claims for early test trials, it appears that an agreement has been reached on which claim should be the first to go before a jury.

According to a joint memorandum (PDF) issued by the parties on May 30, the MDL now includes 1,606 Bard PowerPort lawsuits filed in federal courts nationwide. In addition there are another 96 claims centralized as part of a New Jersey multicounty litigation (MCL), which held its initial case management conference on May 19. Another 15 claims are filed in Arizona state court in the Superior Court of Maricopa County.

The selected bellwether cases include claims brought by Wanda Miller, Robert Cook, Judy Hicks, Kimberly Divelbliss, May Lattanzio and Lloyd Sorensen, with a lawsuit by Peter James chosen as an alternate.

The memorandum details the order that the parties think the six bellwether selections should be put before juries, with plaintiffs suggesting Cook’s lawsuit, dealing with infection injuries, should be the first to go to trial. According to plaintiffs, after Cook’s claim should come Miller’s, Divelbliss, Lattanzio, Hicks and Sorensen.

Defendants also indicated that Cook’s lawsuit should be the first to go to trial, followed by Miller, Lattanzio, Hicks, Sorensen and Divelbliss.

Cook’s lawsuit (PDF) was originally filed in September 2023, indicating that he received his port catheter during a chemotherapy procedure at the Mayo Clinic in August 2022. Within days, the Bard PowerPort had to be surgically removed after it caused Cook to develop an infection. In addition to the additional surgery, Cook also suffered cardiac tamponade injuries.

Although the outcomes of these early bellwether trials will not have any binding impact on other claims pending in the MDL or state courts, they will be closely watched by lawyers involved in the litigation and the average jury awards are expected to have a major impact on future Bard PowerPort lawsuit settlement negotiations.

However, if the bellwether trials do not result in a Bard PowerPort settlement agreement, all of those lawsuits could be remanded back to their originating court districts for hundreds of individual trial dates.