Agreement to Settle nearly 38,000 Bard Hernia Mesh Lawsuits

Columbus, OHBecton, Dickinson and Company (BD), the parent company of BARD, has agreed to settle about 38,000 hernia mesh lawsuits. Reports indicate that the total payouts could exceed $1 Billion. The mesh lawsuits, some of which go back almost 20 years, allege that Bard designed defective mesh products, failed to adequately test them, and didn’t properly warn users about potential risks.

In July, an Ohio federal judge refused to seal a settlement motion from Bard and hundreds of hernia mesh implant claimants, saying the parties hadn't given a good reason to keep their deal secret, reported Law360. U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. wrote in his order that the parties' "desire" to keep the terms of the qualified settlement fund motion they intend to file hidden from other plaintiffs is not enough to justify sealing that motion from the public. The parties had argued that the terms of their agreement should be kept secret to avoid prejudicing further proceedings in the MDL with other plaintiffs or in other courts.

Bard Settlement

The company said the agreement puts to bed the “vast majority” of Bard hernia mesh-related complaints involved in multidistrict litigation (MDL) and Rhode Island state court, reports Top Class Actions. Bard’s settlement will resolve more than 15,000 claims in Rhode Island, where Bard’s headquarters is located and where the first hernia mesh lawsuit was filed in 2006. And it will involve almost 25,000 hernia mesh claims in the federal MDL in Ohio. It covers over 30 of Bard's hernia mesh products, according to a joint statement issued by co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs. The program would allow existing plaintiffs to receive "highly individualized" settlement offers based on their specific injuries, conditions and treatments, according to a lawyer representing plaintiffs in the Rhode Island state litigation.

BD’s last quarterly report has set aside $1.7 billion for product liability litigation, and the company said the hernia mesh settlement was a “large majority” of this amount.

BD plans on the first payout at the end of 2024 and hernia mesh payments will be spread over several years.

How the deal transpired

The out-of-court settlement was reached after the following trials:

• 2021: A jury ruled in Bard’s favor during the first bellwether trial of the MDL.
• 2022: The second bellwether trial awarded $255,000 to the plaintiff.
• 2022: The first state court trial in Rhode Island granted $4.8 Million to plaintiff Paul Trevino.
• 2023: A third bellwether trial resulted in a $500,000 verdict to the plaintiff.

A fourth bellwether trial scheduled this year was removed from the court schedule and the judge told both sides to work on reaching a settlement.

After three trial losses in a row that awarded increasing amounts of compensation, Bard may have wanted to settle now to avoid future verdicts and further legal costs, opined one attorney for the plaintiffs. BD has not admitted any wrongdoing, despite this settlement. Injured patients can still choose to pursue an individual hernia mesh settlement, although cases may go to court.

“The settlement does not include any admission of liability or wrongdoing, and BD continues to dispute the allegations in these matters. The company will continue to vigorously defend itself in cases not resolved through this agreement,” said BD in a press release. The press release also stated that attorneys anticipate that settlement amounts will be within the $50,000 to $100,000 range, although past awards (above) were substantially more.

The Bard hernia mesh settlement is In re: Davol Inc./C.R. Bard Inc. Polypropylene Hernia Mesh Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 2:18-md-02846, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and Davol/C.R. Bard Hernia Mesh Multi-Case Management, Case No. PC-2018-9999, in Rhode Island Superior Court.