Second Bard Hernia Mesh MDL Trial Rescheduled to Begin March 21, 2022

The U.S. District Judge presiding over all Bard hernia mesh lawsuits pending in the federal court system has delayed the start of the second bellwether trial, which was scheduled to begin this month, resetting the case for March 21, 2022.

C.R. Bard currently faces more than 8,000 product liability lawsuits brought by individuals nationwide, each raising similar allegations that the company sold dangerous and defective polypropylene hernia repair products in recent years, including Bard Ventralex, Bard Ventralight, Bard Perfix, Bard 3DMax and other mesh systems, which failed and caused plaintiffs to require additional surgery to remove the mesh from their body.

Given similar questions of fact and law raised in the complaints, the federal litigation is centralized before U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. in the Southern District of Ohio, for coordinated discovery and a series of early bellwether trials, which are designed to help the parties gauge how juries are likely to respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the cases.

The first bellwether trial began in August 2021, involving a case selected by Bard, which ended in a defense verdict. However, a second case is being prepared to go before another jury was scheduled for trial to begin this, involving a claim selected by plaintiffs.

In a case management order (PDF) issued on January 11, Judge Sargus announced that the trial had been rescheduled to begin on March 21, 2022

The trial will involve claims brought by Antonio Milanesi and Alicia Morz De Milanesi, who originally filed their lawsuit in 2018, involving allegations that problems resulted from a Bard Ventralex Hernia Patch implanted during umbilical hernia surgery in July 2007. Nearly a decade later, Antonio Milanesi underwent additional surgery to have the mesh removed, after developing an infection and a small bowel fistula in May 2017. The lawsuit indicates the mesh adhered to a loop of the small bowel, leading to erosion and the need for a small bowel resection, anastomosis, removal of the mesh and repair of the ventral hernia, leaving Milanesi with permanent and severe injuries.

While the outcome of the Milanesi trial will not have any binding impact on thousands of other claims brought against C.R. Bard, it will be closely watched by lawyers and parties involved in the litigation.

Unless Bard is able to establish that it can consistently defend the safety of its products before juries or reaches hernia mesh settlement agreements to resolve large number of cases following the bellwether trials, Judge Sargus may begin remanding hundreds of individual cases to U.S. District Courts nationwide for individual trial dates in the coming year.