8/29/22 4.8 Million Jury Verdict Bard Hernia Mesh Case Update

Right now, we are representing thousands of hernia mesh lawsuits pending in the Providence Rhode Island Superior Court .

The plaintiffs in these lawsuits are individuals who had a defective hernia mesh implanted during surgery causing them to suffer serious post-surgical complications and injuries.

The hernia mesh lawsuits involve multiple hernia mesh products made by four medical device companies who are now defendants in the litigation: Ethicon (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary that has just reached a settlement in most of its lawsuits), C.R. Bard (now part of Beckton Dickinson), Covidien, and Atrium Medical Corp. The alleged defects and the product liability claims being asserted against all these defendants are similar enough to talk about them collectively.

August 29, 2022 Hernia Mesh Verdict Update:

On August 29, 2022, in the first state court trial in the country involving allegedly defective hernia mesh implants, the Providence R.I. State court jury returned a verdict of $4.8 million dollars for the plaintiff, Paul Trevino,

Attorney Jonathan Orent, who also represents numerous Plaintiffs, tried the case.

The trial initially began on July 28, and jurors heard closing arguments on August 23. Late last week jurors indicated a potential deadlock, but they continued their deliberations after receiving a charge to continue deliberating from Associate Justice Richard A. Licht.

Trevino sued Davol Inc., a division of medical device company C.R. Bard Inc. after receiving the Ventralex brand mesh to treat a hernia that developed after surgery for an abdominal injury. His case was closely watched by both plaintiff and defense lawyers due to being the first in the country to go to trial in state court involving hernia mesh implants, following only a small number of trials involving hernia mesh implants in federal court.

The full trial was webcast and recorded gavel-to-gavel by CVN, and is available for viewing with a subscription to CVN’s online video library which also includes multiple trials involving transvaginal mesh implants.

Trevino’s claimed Bard manufactured the Ventralex patch with a type of plastic resin that causes an inflammatory reaction in human tissue, and that the patch “buckled” inside Trevino’s abdomen and had to be removed in a subsequent surgery. Plaintiffs in the many hernia mesh lawsuits pending throughout the country claim the devices left them beleaguered with side effects ranging from chronic pain to infections to nerve damage

Bard argued during trial that Trevino’s complex medical history and previous abdominal injury caused his alleged injuries, and that patches like the Ventralex are approved by federal regulators, remain on the market currently, and successfully treat thousands of patients every year without complications.

Thousand of our hernia mesh lawsuits remain pending in state court in Rhode Island, where Bard has its headquarters, and also in federal multi-district litigation consolidated in federal court in the Southern District of Ohio.

August 28, 2022 New Hernia Mesh MDL Update

Yes, there are more hernia mesh class action lawsuits that do not involve Bard. The judge presiding over the new Covidien hernia mesh MDL in Massachusetts – Hon. Patti B. Saris – held the first status conference with lawyers for both sides this week. Just two months after the Covidien hernia mesh cases were consolidated into a class action, there are now 90 cases pending in the MDL.

Judge Saris will be making appointments to the plaintiff leadership committee in the coming weeks, after which a plan for discovery and the selection of initial bellwether cases will be the next items on the MDL agenda.

August 24, 2022 – Hernia Mesh Class Action Update

Is a hernia mesh settlement finally on the horizon? It may be. A settlement mediator was appointed by the Bard mesh class action judge last week.

Importantly, the settlement mediator was appointed with the joint agreement of lawyers on both sides to facilitate negotiations on the global settlement of the C.R. Bard hernia mesh lawsuits. If the Bard domino falls, other hernia mesh class actions might also fall into place.

This is a major step forward that could result in a negotiated settlement before the end of 2022. The MDL judge also scheduled two more bellwether trials for February – the long-awaited Stinson case that Bard wants to avoid – and another in May 2023. So that gives Bard an extra incentive to offer reasonable settlement payouts for victims before that case goes to trial.