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Delay, delay, delay seems to be the current state of the Bard litigation. New motions made by lawyers who know that they will be rejected. Expectations of a settlement were proposed as the reason for the delay to May, now the trial has been delayed to October of 2023. This major healthcare problem has become a purely financial and legal problem. Also interesting that worker’s compensation is handled by a government agency formed to protect workers, but the agency formed to protect the general public is doing nothing.
“May 13, 2023 Update
Things have been slow in the hernia mesh litigation while we wait for the Stinson trial and hope for a settlement before that. Yesterday, a new motion was filed in Stinson that revolves around the admissibility of evidence related to Mr. Stinson’s workers’ compensation claim. Bard wants to admit that there was an award and the amount of the award received by Mr. Stinson from his workers’ compensation claim be excluded.The plaintiff’s counsel argues that the defendants should be barred from mentioning workers’ compensation during the trial under the collateral source rule. It is hard to imagine a scenario where the plaintiff loses this motion. The whole point of the rule is to referencing a collateral source would risk leading the jury to reduce Mr. Stinson’s damages award, assuming he had already received some compensation. Moreover, workers’ compensation claim holds no evidentiary value.
May 1, 2023 Update
The new trial date for Stinson v. C.R. Bard, the third MDL bellwether trial, is now reset for October 16, 2023. This trial date is the pressure point for settlement not only for this case but for the entire litigation.”