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Ethicon Media Monitoring 04/28/2016
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90,000 Pelvic Mesh Lawsuits Burden Court, Judge Dismisses 140 Bard Cases
Apr 27, 2016 | The Mesh Medical Device News Desk
By James Humann
Medtronic and Covidien supplied the mesh to Bard and they were also named in the dismissal, which presumably followed an undisclosed settlement amount.
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90,000 Pelvic Mesh Lawsuits Burden Court, Judge Dismisses 140 Bard Cases
Apr 27, 2016 | The Mesh Medical Device News Desk
By James Humann
Medtronic and Covidien supplied the mesh to Bard and they were also named in the dismissal, which presumably followed an undisclosed settlement amount.
Judge Goodwin dismissed them with prejudice meaning they cannot be filed again.
The multidistrict litigation involving pelvic mesh made by seven manufacturers before Judge Goodwin is the largest ever amassed in one court which, as of today, numbers 90,131 cases.
To lighten the untenable load, numerous cases have been remanded back to state courts across the country or settled and removed from the list.
Settlements, Trials
Last year, C.R. Bard said it would offer more than $200 million to settle 3,000 cases filed by pelvic mesh injured women. Still ahead and filed in Judge Goodwin’s court are 13,429 cases naming mesh maker Bard and claiming injury from its defective product.
The only other major manufacturer which has promised to settle cases is AMS, (American Medical Systems) owned by Endo International. Ethicon/Johnson & Johnson still plans to resolve the remainder of its 40,000 cases through litigation.
There are also cases naming C.R. Bard filed in numerous states and there are 1,541 cases naming CR Bard consolidated in New Jersey.
The first two product liability trials naming Bard were lost by the company.
In 2012, Christine Scott was awarded $3.6 million against the company by a Bakersfield, California jury. Donna Cisson was awarded $2 million by a Charleston, WV jury in 2013.
Bard filed an appeal on the amount which included $1.75 million in punitive damages but in January, an appeals court upheld the jury’s award.
The appeals court denied Cisson’s challenge to Georgia’s split-recovery statute. It requires the state to retain 75 percent of punitive damages with the remainder going to Cisson. The Scott case has been paid.
The appeals court also agreed with Judge Goodwin’s decision at trial, specifically that he was right not to allow evidence of the Food and Drug Administration’s 510(k) approval process that allowed mesh to be sold without assurances for safety and efficacy.
During the Cisson trial, Judge Goodwin described Bard’s attempt to hide its identity in purchasing raw polypropylene resin:“
This secretive conduct in an effort to sidestep the MSDS warnings suggests reprehensible conduct, weighting against remittitur.”
The MSDS is the Material Safety Data Sheet accompanies the raw resin and clearly says:
“Do not use this Phillips Sumika Polypropylene Company material in medical applications involving brief or temporary implantation in the human body or contact with internal body fluids or tissues unless the material has been provided directly from Phillips Sumika polypropylene Company under an agreement which expressly acknowledges the contemplated use.”
Cisson and Scott had both been implanted with a Bard Avaulta pelvic mesh, made with polypropylene provided by Phillips Sumika.
Bard is expected to report first quarter earnings Wednesday at 5 pm when it hosts a conference call. Based in Murray Hill, New Jersey, C.R. Bard (BCR) designs, manufactures and distributes medical, surgical, and patient care devices worldwide.
Background
In February, Bard enjoyed one of the few trial victories in the case of Eve Sherrer in Kansas City, Missouri. Voting 10-2, jurors rejected the contention that the Bard Align and the Boston Scientific Solyx were defective. Sherrer had sought $28 million. This was the longest pelvic mesh product liability trial to be conducted stretching one month over the holiday season.
In February 2015, Bard settled with Debra Wise on the eve of trial.
Bard is facing in excess of $7 million in jury awards to six plaintiffs. In October 2014, the company offered to settle 500 cases for $21 million.
Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel
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Full Text of Stories Below
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