Hernia Mesh Lawsuit

This section contains news about hernia mesh lawsuits and what plaintiffs can expect going forward. This section was last updated on August 30, 2022.

August 17, 2022: The judge presiding in the Bard hernia mesh lawsuits appointed a settlement master for both parties to start negotiations and avoid going to trial.

July 14, 2022: The presiding judge for all Bard hernia mesh lawsuits denied motions from the defendant and plaintiff for a new trial, upholding the $250,000 verdict from the second bellwether trial.

June 6, 2022: The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has decided to consolidate all Covidien hernia mesh lawsuits into a multidistrict litigation (MDL 3029) and moved to the District of Massachussets. There are currently 73 pending federal actions in seven districts in the litigation, with 10 more in two other districts when the motion was filed.

April 15, 2022: A plaintiff who sustained injuries from a defective C.R. Bard hernia mesh was awarded $250,000 in damages in the hernia mesh litigation’s second bellwether trial. The jury agreed with the plaintiff on the defective design claim of the hernia mesh device.

January 15, 2022: The next C.R. Bard bellwether trial has been postponed and rescheduled for March 22, 2022.

December 14, 2021: A motion has been filed to the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate all pending Atrium ProLite and ProLoop products. If approved, this will be the 4th pending multidistrict litigation on hernia mesh.

September 7, 2021:  The first round of the C.R. Bard Hernia Mesh bellwether trials resulted in favor of the defense.  While this result is unexpected, there are succeeding bellwether trials which will hopefully have more favorable verdicts for the plaintiffs.

Hernia mesh is a surgical implant that provides extra support for damaged tissue. The hernia mesh is placed across the area surrounding the hernia. It is intended to help hold damaged tissue together and strengthen the area as it heals.

According to the FDA, the majority of hernia mesh is made from synthetic or animal tissue.

In the US, it is estimated that more than 90% of hernia repairs are aided with the use of the hernia mesh since 2000.

C.R. Bard. On August 2, 2018 the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated all federally-filed Bard polypropylene hernia mesh cases and created MDL 2846. Many of the Bard hernia mesh products that utilize polypropylene in their design are included in this MDL.

There are also over 13,000 Bard hernia mesh lawsuits pending in federal and state courts.

On August 2021, the first bellwether trials for Bard hernia mesh lawsuits started. A month later, the verdict was awarded in favor of Bard.

On April 15, 2022, an Ohio federal jury awarded $250,000 to a plaintiff who sustained injuries because of a defective C.R. Bard hernia mesh. This is the second bellwether trial and Bard’s first loss in the hernia mesh litigation.

On July 14, 2022, the federal judge presiding all Bard hernia mesh cases denied motions from both Bard and the plaintiffs from the second bellwether trial for a new trial. This decision upholds the $250,000 verdict awarded last April, and denies Bard’s motion to overturn the verdict as with the plaintiff’s motion for a new trial on the amount of damages Bard should pay.

On August 17, 2022, the presiding judge for all federal Bard hernia mesh cases assigned a settlement master as agreed upon by both parties to resolve the litigation and avoid thousands of cases going into trial.

Atrium Medical. Atrium Medical is currently facing over 2,500 lawsuits from patients who suffered from C-QUR Edge Mesh complications. The lawsuits claim that the company failed to warn the patients about the defective surgical device. They were centralized into an multidistrict litigation (MDL) in New Hampshire District Court.

Bellwether trials were supposed to start on July 2021 but was postponed. Both parties of the litigation agreed on two bellwether trials, with potential dates to be announced soon.

Ethicon. Ethicon and its parent company Johnson & Johnson are also currently facing over 3,500 lawsuits for Physiomesh Flexible Composite Mesh, on the grounds of failure to warn and negligence on releasing a defective product to the market. Cases against Ethicon are being filed in both multicounty litigation (MCL) in New Jersey and in multidistrict litigation in the Northern District Court of Georgia.

Bellwether trials were also postponed, with speculations of a global settlement being announced in the future.

Covidien. On June 6, 2022, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has decided to consolidate all Covidien hernia mesh lawsuits into a multidistrict litigation (MDL 3029) and moved to the District of Massachusetts. There are currently 73 pending federal actions in seven districts in the litigation, with 10 more in two other districts when the motion was filed.

A motion to consolidate Covidien hernia mesh lawsuits was denied last July 2020 due to a limited number of pending cases. The number of lawsuits has then increased to more than 4,000 cases.