News Feed Discussions Hernia Discussion Bard legal case

  • Christopher

    Member
    April 17, 2024 at 9:49 am

    Hello currently in this lawsuit looking to speak with others who are involved with this case

  • Good intentions

    Member
    March 24, 2024 at 2:23 pm

    Hello William. I am no expert on legal issues. But as I read this, the judge has decided that there is enough information available from the previous trials for the two parties to come to a settlement agreement. I think that the judge is making the plaintiffs’ representation decide if they really want to try each case individually, and the defendants decide if they want to take the risk of paying out a large number of individual settlements for each future lost case.

    I think that the situation is unusual in that the products are still for sale. So if the device makers decide to take the chance on paying individual cases they are looking at a continuous stream of settlement payments, even past those of the plaintiffs in the class action. Each individual case will set precedent for future cases. On the other hand, the plaintiffs’ lawyers will have a huge amount of work in front of them, recruiting and training lawyers for the individual cases. I’m just guessing, I don’t really know how it would work. But that seems like the game of chicken that is being played.

    One interesting aspect of remanding back to the individual’s districts is that each individual case will bring in more and more varied discovery. The surgeons will be involved along with others involved in each procedure. It could get really messy. In one of the cases the device maker’s lawyers tried to blame the surgeon fo “failure to inform”. Many of the plaintiffs probably would not have sued if there wasn’t a class action to join. But now that it is happening it seems more likely that many will continue. They have already retained counsel and started the process. Thousands of people testifying under oath about the failed promises and after the surgery gaslighting, avoidance, and deflection when they had problems.

    I think that most class action lawsuits are filed for products that have been removed from market. Like 3M’s defective ear plug suit. The lawsuits are attempts to make the damaged parties whole for past transgressions. But here, the settlement payments will have to be figured in to the future costs of the products, since the same products are still being sold and will have the same ratio of problems. Or the pre-surgery disclosures will be so explicit that people will avoid the products. So far, there seems to be no progress at all on disclosure either. Same products, same disclosures, same stories. No change. Because, I assume, it would show that they knew and did nothing.

    I wonder if anyone has considered suing the FDA for their approval of these damaging products and the lack of oversight in recognizing the issues reported in their own database. I could see a jury voting to make the government responsible. They’re not doing their job.

    It’s easy to imagine that the class action gets settled but the individual cases continue. What is “supposed to happen” is that the bad products are removed from market after a large class action suit. But I think that the mesh repair money is just too good and that there are probably ways to pass the payment costs on to the public as a whole, through the insurance companies. At the end of the day it’s always about the money.

    Pretty fascinating. Thanks for bringing it up again. Maybe somebody with actual law education/experience can explain more.

    • Good intentions

      Member
      March 26, 2024 at 12:19 pm

      Two months of “mediation” talks ahead and probably nothing decided at the end. Meanwhile, no changes by the device makers. I am seeing more mentions of Phasix though. The absorbale mesh.

      “<b style=”background-color: var(–bb-content-background-color); font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: var(–bb-body-text-color);”>March 25, 2024 Update

      The first day of the mediation was today. There is no news. There may be news tomorrow. The most realistic good news would be another scheduled mediation and a report of progress.

      March 5, 2024 Update

      Judge Sargus has issued an order outlining a mediation plan and schedule aimed at facilitating a settlement in the Bard hernia mesh MDL. The order schedules an in-person mediation session for March 25 and March 26, 2024 (it was originally scheduled earlier in the month). The mediator is John Jackson

      If there is no settlement by May 24, 2024, the parties need so submit a plan to advance the litigation. I doubt that will be a joint plan if it comes to it. Let’s just hope these cases can get settled.”

      https://www.lawsuit-information-center.com/bard-hernia-mesh-lawsuits.html

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