AngioDynamics Port Catheter Injury Lawyers Appointed to Leadership Roles in MDL

Attorneys serving in leadership positions during the AngioDynamics port catheter lawsuit MDL will take actions that benefit all plaintiffs in the litigation.

The U.S. District Judge presiding over all federal AngioDynamics port catheter injury lawsuits has selected a dozen attorneys to serve in various leadership positions during the MDL proceedings, who will coordinate discovery, pretrial motions and settlement negotiations on behalf of all plaintiffs pursuing claims over the medical implants’ failures.

There are currently more than 140 individuals pursuing product liability lawsuits against AngioDynamics in the federal court system, each raising similar allegations that there are dangerous design defects with its line of port catheters, which are implanted in patients to make regular administration of medications and other fluids easier. The implants involve a port component connected to a catheter that delivers the fluids directly into a patient’s bloodstream.

Plaintiffs maintain that they suffered devastating infections, port catheter fractures and other injuries when one of the company’s totally implantable venous access devices (TIVADS) failed, such as the SmartPort, Vortex, Xcela and Vaxcel port catheters.

Since October 2024, all federal AngioDynamics port catheter lawsuits have been centralized in the Southern District of California as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL), where U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta is presiding over coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.

After an initial status conference late last year, Judge Ohta called on port catheter injury lawyers to propose a leadership structure, which fairly represents the needs and interests of all plaintiffs involved in the litigation. The plaintiffs turned in the proposal on December 13.

The parties met with Judge Ohta for a status conference (PDF) on April 17, to update the Court on progress in the litigation. On the same day, Judge Ohta issued a case management order (PDF) approving the plaintiffs’ leadership proposal and announcing the appointment of 12 AngioDynamics port catheter injury lawyers to leadership roles in the litigation.

The order appoints three lawyers to serve as Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel, one to serve as Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel, a four-person Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee, and four attorneys to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee.

The attorneys selected to serve in these various leadership roles will conduct pretrial discovery on behalf of plaintiffs, such as coordinating status updates for the court, arguing certain pretrial motions, conducting discovery and depositions into common issues that impact all claims, and potentially negotiating a framework for Angiodymanics port catheter settlements that may help to resolve large numbers of claims. However, each individual plaintiff will still retain their own lawyer to meet various deadlines and establish that they meet the criteria for an AngioDynamics port catheter injury lawsuit payout.

As part of the coordinated management of the growing litigation, Judge Ohta is expected to establish a bellwether trial process, during which a handful of representative cases will be selected for early trial dates. These trials will allow the parties and court to evaluate how juries may respond to evidence and expert testimony likely to be repeated throughout the litigation.

While the results of those bellwether trials will not be binding on other plaintiffs pursuing claims, they could help leadership lawyers negotiate an AngioDynamics port catheter lawsuit settlement agreement.

Following the MDL proceedings, if the parties do not reach a resolution for the litigation, Judge Ohta may then remand each case back to the U.S. District Court where it originated for a future trial date.