Lawyers Proposed 11 Bard Implantable Port Catheter Lawsuits as Bellwether Trial Candidates

Claims will be eligible for early trial dates, to gauge how juries may respond to more than 1,500 Bard port catheter lawsuits pending in the federal MDL.

Parties involved in the federal litigation over complications caused by Bard PowerPorts and other implantable port catheter devices have each submitted a list of cases, which they believe are representative candidates for early bellwether trials.

The claims raise allegations similar to those presented in nearly 1,500 Bard PowerPort lawsuits being pursued against C.R. Bard and Becton Dickinson in the federal court system, indicating that design defects caused plaintiffs to suffer port catheter infections, device fractures, migration injuries and other serious health problems. 

Also known as totally implantable vascular access devices (TIVADs), the Bard PowerPort systems have been widely used in recent years to help deliver chemotherapy and other medications directly into a patient’s bloodstream, involving an injection port site where the needle is inserted, and a polyurethane catheter tube that delivers the fluids to the patient’s body.

While the Bard implantable port catheters have been sold as safe and effective products, each of the lawsuits allege that the catheter material is prone to degrade and fracture inside the body, potentially resulting in the need for revision surgery to remove the failed device.

Given common questions of fact and law raised in complaints brought in federal courts nationwide, all Bard PowerPort lawsuits are currently consolidated as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation, with U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell presiding over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings out of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Early in the litigation, Judge Campbell established a plan to prepare a group of claims for early test trials, known as “bellwether” cases, which are intended to help the parties evaluate how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that could be repeated throughout the lawsuits.

In December 2023, the parties selected a group of 24 Bard PowerPort bellwether cases, for an initial pool. After conducting limited discovery, the parties narrowed that list down to 15 Bard PowerPort lawsuits that have gone through more specific preparations over the past six months, and they are now each proposing what they believe are the most suitable trial candidates.

On April 28, both plaintiffs (PDF) and defendants (PDF) turned in a list of six cases each. The two lists contain one lawsuit in common, resulting in a total of 11 Bard PowerPort claims for the Court to choose from when scheduling the first trials.

“Plaintiffs propose a mix of cases that will be most representative of the full range of devices, claims, and injuries at issue in this MDL. That proposed composition is: three infection cases, two fracture cases, and one thrombosis case,” the plaintiffs’ submission states. “Defendants are in near agreement with Plaintiffs’ proposed composition of injuries. In advance of this filing and in the days since the April 17, 2025 exchange of proposed bellwether trial lists, the parties met and conferred on multiple occasions. Although the parties did not reach complete agreement, they were able to reach agreement on the injury types that should be represented in five of the six trial cases.”

According to a joint memorandum (PDF) issued by the parties on April 28, there are currently 1,480 Bard PowerPort lawsuits pending in the MDL. Another 85 claims are part of a multicounty litigation in New Jersey state court, and an additional 15 claims are filed in Maricopa County, in Arizona. 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.