Judge Edmund A. Sargus of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, in a case management order issued on December 30, indicated that the second bellwether trial involving allegations over C. R. Bard's Ventralex hernia mesh is expected to go before a jury in late summer 2021.
The lawsuit, filed in 2018, was selected as the second bellwether trial case by the court on January 24, 2020. The suit was brought by a couple who claimed that hernia mesh patch resulted in permanent injuries and significant pain and suffering, emotional distress, monetary losses, and diminished quality of life.
The following deadlines have been applied for Dispositive and Daubert motions in the second bellwether trial:
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January 22, 2021: Dispositive motions to be filed.
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January 29, 2021: Deadline for filing of any Daubert or other motions concerning any expert.
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February 19, 2021: Opposition papers to dispositive motions to be filed.
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February 22, 2021: Opposition papers to expert motions to be filed.
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March 4, 2021: Reply papers to expert motions to be filed.
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March 5, 2021: Reply papers to dispositive motions to be filed.
The manufacturer will tentatively undergo its first jury trial on April 19, 2021, which involves a plaintiff who claimed that the "Sepra Technology" coating on the company's products breaks down and is absorbed by the body too quickly, exposing the internal organs and other tissues to the polypropylene and increasing the risk of complications.
Last month, Judge Sargus ruled that the manufacturer cannot present its Ventralight ST device as "lifesaving" during the upcoming bellwether trial as the federal courts permitted the mentioned characterizations if there was some evidence in the record to support it.
The next case management conference will be held virtually through GoToMeeting on February 2, 2021, at 1:30 P.M.
Currently, the manufacturer is facing more than 8,000 product liability litigations against its products, which include Bard Ventralight, Bard Ventralex, Bard Prefix, Bard 3DMax, and other similar mesh systems. Each lawsuit claims that the company sold defective products in the market, which resulted in plaintiffs suffering from painful and debilitating complications.
The mesh products named in the lawsuits contain polypropylene material, which can easily break, shrink or wear off. This often leads to device migration, organ perforation, infection, and several other complications. Lawsuits allege the defective design of the hernia mesh often required the patients to undergo additional correction surgeries.
The U.S. district judge has also rescheduled the first bellwether jury trial of the Bard hernia mesh lawsuit from May 2020 to September 29, 2020, which is now rescheduled to January 2021. The case management order of November 23 states that the first bellwether jury trial will be held on April 19, 2021, followed by two final pretrial conferences on March 24 and April 1.
