Next Bard Hernia Mesh Trial in Federal MDL Postponed Until May 2023

Delay comes as thousands of plaintiffs pursuing Bard hernia mesh lawsuits watch to see what impact the trial will have on average settlement amounts the manufacturer may offer to resolve claims.

The U.S. District Judge presiding over all Bard hernia mesh lawsuits pending in the MDL (multidistrict litigation) has delayed the start of the next bellwether trial until May 2023, as a court-appointed master continues to work with the parties to help facilitate negotiations to settle thousands of claims pending in the federal court system.

There are currently nearly 18,000 product liability lawsuits pending in the federal Bard hernia mesh MDL, which is centralized before U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. in the Southern District of Ohio, since each of the claims raise similar allegations that plaintiffs suffered painful complications due to design defects associated with certain polypropylene mesh products sold in recent years, including Bard Ventralex, Bard Ventralight, Bard Perfix, Bard 3DMax and other systems.

While the parties did make some progress last year negotiating Bard hernia mesh settlements to resolve some state court claims in Rhode Island, following mixed results in the first two federal trials held before Judge Sargus, preparations resumed earlier this year for a third and fourth bellwether trial, which were originally slated to begin in February 2023 and May 2023.

In an order (PDF) issued on November 22, Judge Sargus announced that the next Bard hernia mesh trial date was vacated, and will instead begin on May 15, 2023.

The Court did not provide any indication about the reason for the delay, or when the fourth trial previously slated for May 2023 will now begin. However, the order comes weeks after a Bard hernia mesh settlement master was appointed to work with the parties leading up to the next trial.

Bard Hernia Mesh Settlement Negotiations

Although the outcome of early bellwether trials held in the federal MDL will not have any binding impact on other claimants, 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, and determine the potential amounts of Bard hernia mesh lawsuit payouts that may be awarded if each claim goes to trial.

The first two early trials held in the Bard hernia mesh MDL produced mixed results, with the manufacturer securing a defense verdict in the first trial in August 2021, and getting hit with a $255k verdict in a second trial that ended in April 2022. However, there are two additional cases scheduled to go before juries next year.

In Rhode Island state court, another Bard bellwether trial resulted in a $4.8 million verdict for one plaintiff in August 2022, sending a clear signal to the manufacturer about the extent of liability it may face if settlements are not reached to resolve thousand of individual claims that are pending.

December 2022 Bard Hernia Mesh Litigation Update

While the settlement negotiations continue, and additional Bard hernia mesh trials loom, the size and scope of the litigation has continued to grow throughout 2022.

According to the November 2022 docket report (PDF) issued by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML), there are currently 17,954 lawsuits pending before Judge Sargus. This represents a sharp increase from just over 8,000 claims that were pending in June 2021.

If the parties fail to negotiate acceptable average Bard hernia mesh settlements to resolve large numbers of claims over the remainder of 2022 or early 2023, it is expected that Judge Sargus will consider remanding large numbers of claims back to U.S. District Courts nationwide for individual trial dates in future years.

In addition claims against Bard, thousands of similar claims have been filed in recent years against manufacturers of other polypropylene mesh products that have resulted in widespread injuries, including more than 3,600 Ethicon Physiomesh lawsuits and 3,335 Atrium C-Qur lawsuits that were centralized in separate MDLs, and lawyers involved in each of those proceedings have reached hernia mesh settlements shortly before scheduled bellwether trials were set to begin.