In an Amended Practice and Procedure Order issued on January 17, 2019, Judge Richard Story announced a scheduling order for the preparation of cases for the first Ethicon hernia mesh bellwether trials scheduled to begin on February 3, 2020.
As per the amended order, the parties are allowed to choose 10 cases by April this year from an initial discovery pool containing 24 cases, which were picked last year. For expert discovery process, each side must pick 5 trial pool cases. By July 1, 2019, plaintiffs are required to submit expert disclosures and reports, and defendants can submit them by August 2. Selection for all trial pool cases is to be completed by October 14, 2019, along with dispositive or Daubert motions by October 28, 2019. Responses to those motions are to be filed by November 15 for which replies are expected by November 25. The outcome for the tests trials would help parties gauge the relative merits and demerits of the cases.
There are about 1,700 Ethicon Physiomesh lawsuits pending in the U.S. federal courts, each with claims that the flexible composite hernia mesh was prone to wear and tear and caused severe complications among several patients due to design defects. Ethicon Physiomesh Multi-District Litigation (MDL No. 2782; In Re: Ethicon Physiomesh Flexible composite Hernia Mesh Products Liability Litigation) is overlooked by U.S. District Judge Richard Story in the Northern District of Georgia for consolidated pretrial proceedings.
