First trial in Bard IVC Filter MDL ends with $3.6M verdict in favor of Plaintiff
The first bellwether trial in the Bard Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filter litigation ended last week in Phoenix, Arizona with a federal jury finding in favor of plaintiff Sherr-Una Booker and awarding her $4 million dollars.
Ms. Booker’s lawsuit alleged that in 2007 she received a G2 filter, and that it subsequently fractured, with some pieces of the filter perforating her vena cava and others traveling to her heart. Doctors performed open-heart surgery in an attempt to remove the pieces, but even then, they could not remove all of the pieces. Ms. Booker now lives with constant anxiety that the fractured piece that remains in her body might cause one day cause her more harm.
The jury ultimately determined that C.R. Bard was negligent in failing to adequately warn Ms. Booker and her surgeon about the real risks posed by its G2 filter, which had been cleared for sale in the United States through a fast-tracked 510(k) regulatory process. The result – Ms. Booker was awarded $2 million dollars in compensatory damages, and another $2 million in punitive damages against C.R. Bard. Because the jury assigned 80 percent of the blame to the manufacturer, the final judgement against C.R. Bard was $3.6 million.
Ms. Booker’s case is part of a federal multi-district litigation where more than 3,600 plaintiffs are claiming Bard failed to provide adequate warnings about the dangers of its retrievable IVC filters, including their tendency to tilt, migrate and fracture, as well as embed and perforate the inferior vena cava. The FDA took notice of these increased risks years ago and released multiple public safety alerts concerning their use, but retrievable IVC filters remain on the market.
Additional bellwether trials in the Bard IVC filter litigation have been scheduled for later this year. Bellwether trials are held in consolidated litigation so that both sides can get a sense for how the issues will play out in front of juries. The goal is that these early trials will enable productive settlement discussions and allow the entire litigation to more efficiently come to an end, with a result that is fair to both sides.
The next Bellwether trial in the Bard litigation (Jones v. C.R. Bard) is set to begin on May 15, 2018. Other IVC filter manufacturers that face mounting liability over their retrievable filters include Cook Medical, Cordis, Argon, and B. Braun.
The Johnston Law Group represents clients nationwide who have been injured by IVC filters. If you or a loved one has experienced a complication with an IVC filter, please contact our law firm for a free and confidential legal consultation.