LPR Trial Team Wins Verdict in Bard Ventralex Trial
The Levin Papantonio Rafferty trial team won a verdict declaring the C.R. Bard Ventralex hernia mesh to be defectively designed and unreasonably dangerous. “This is the first time in the 14-year history of various hernia mesh litigations that any jury ever has found for a plaintiff on a design defect theory,” said LPR Attorney Tim O’Brien.
“After three days of deliberations and one hold-out juror, the verdict was $255,000,” O’Brien added. He explained that the verdict will help establish settlement values for the remainder of more than 17,000 cases in the multidistrict litigation (MDL).
The plaintiff in the second bellwether trial (Milanesi et al v. C.R. Bard Inc et al, No. 2:18-cv-01320) in the hernia mesh litigation sued C.R. Bard for damages after the patient suffered injury from the company’s hernia repair surgical mesh. Becton Dickinson acquired C.R. Bard in 2017.
Plaintiffs’ Claims in the Second Bard Bellwether Trial
Antonio Milanesi and his wife Alicia Morz De Milanesi brought the case against C.R. Bard. According to the claim, in 2007, Antonio Milanesa received a size large Bard Ventralex Hernia Patch to repair his umbilical hernia. The plaintiffs claim that the mesh caused Milanesi to develop an infection and bowel abscess, which required that he undergo a second surgery in 2017. A third surgery was required days later when Milanesi developed a high grade post-operative bowel obstruction, the claim states.
The plaintiffs in this and other cases in the MDL allege that the polypropylene material in the mesh devices degrades when implanted in human tissue—an outcome of defective design. They further argue that the Defendants knew that the mesh products were defective but marketed and sold the devices without warning of the risks.
About the Hernia Mesh MDL
The hernia mesh cases represent the third-largest pending MDL in the country, Reuters reports. The cases were consolidated before Chief U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus in Columbus (In re: Davol Inc/C.R. Bard Inc Polypropylene Hernia Mesh Products Liability Litigation, No. 2:18-md-02846).
LPR’s O’Brien serves as Co-Lead Counsel for the Plaintiffs in the MDL and was the Lead Trial Counsel in the second bellwether trial, which began on March 21, 2022.
The cases in the MDL allege that implanted Becton, Dickinson and Co.’s hernia mesh products cause a range of medical complications, including:
- Punctured organs and tissues
- Adhesions
- Foreign body rejection
- Allergic and inflammatory responses
- Mesh detachment and migration
- Infections
- Pain
- Bowel obstruction
The Southern District of Ohio MDL has close to 17,000 Bard defective Bard hernia mesh cases pending. Other cases pending in a Rhode Island state court also name Davol, another Becton Dickinson subsidiary, as a Defendant.