Bard PowerPort Lawyers Seek Leadership Positions in Federal MDL

As the U.S. District Judge presiding over all federal Bard PowerPort lawsuits continues to establish the organizational structure for the recently formed MDL (multidistrict litigation), a group of plaintiffs’ attorneys have submitted a proposed slate of lawyers to serve in various leadership roles during the coordinated pretrial proceedings.

Over the past few months, Becton, Dickinson & Co., and its Bard subsidiaries have faced a rapidly growing number of product liability lawsuits brought throughout the federal court system, each raising similar allegations that plaintiffs experienced complications from Bard PowerPort or similar Bard implanted port catheter systems, which are placed below the skin to provide easy access for the delivery of medications, such as chemotherapy.

Given common questions of fact and law raised in the claims, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) decided last month to centralize the lawsuits before one judge for coordinated discovery and bellwether trials, which will test allegations that design defects caused the Bard port catheters to fracture and fail, resulting in severe infections, blood clots and other life-threatening injuries.

The Bard ports consist of an injection site where a needle is inserted, as well as a polyurethane catheter tube that carries the drug into the blood vessel. Plaintiffs maintain that they have each suffered different injuries due to the same design problems with the port-a-cath, indicating that the material is prone to degrade over time, allowing bacteria to develop or small pieces top break off.

To avoid duplicative discovery and conflicting rulings from different judges, the Bard PowerPort MDL has been assigned to U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Bard PowerPort Lawsuit Attorneys Propose Leadership Structure

In advance of an initial status conference scheduled for September 18, Bard PowerPort lawyers have submitted a memorandum and motion (PDF) proposing a plaintiffs’ leadership structure for the litigation, as well as who should fill various roles.

The proposed leadership structure would include three attorneys serving as plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel, 11 attorneys serving on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee (PEC), a plaintiffs’ steering committee consisting of 13 lawyers, as well as 12 sub-committee members. Two members of the PEC will serve as liaison counsel.

If appointed, these lawyers would take certain actions during the litigation that benefit all cases, including conducting discovery and depositions into common issues that impact all claims, arguing motions before the court and potentially negotiating Bard PowerPort injury settlements that establish a framework to resolve all claims. However, each individual plaintiff will still maintain their own Bard PowerPort lawyer to meet various deadlines and establish a link between their specific injuries and the allegedly defective port catheters, as well as negotiate any potential individual Bard PowerPort lawsuit payout.

As part of the coordinated management of the port catheter lawsuits filed against Bard, it is expected that Judge Campbell will eventually establish a “bellwether” program, where a small group of representative cases will be prepared for early trial dates, to help the parties gauge how juries are likely to respond to certain evidence and testimony about Bard PowerPort injuries that will be repeated throughout various cases in the litigation.

If no Bard port catheter settlement agreement or other resolution is reached during the MDL pretrial proceedings, each individual claim may later be remanded back to the U.S. District Court where it was originally filed for trial.