Hernia Mesh Lawsuit Settlement Predictions

Currently, thousands of hernia mesh lawsuits are pending in courts across the country. Our hernia mesh lawyers are handling these cases in all 50 states. This page

Discusses this litigation
Provides the most recent February 2023 updates and the latest hernia mesh MDL-2846 news, and
Offers projected average settlement amounts for a hernia mesh lawsuit.

The plaintiffs in these lawsuits are individuals with defective hernia mesh implanted during surgery, causing them to suffer severe post-surgical complications and injuries.

The hernia mesh lawsuits involve multiple hernia mesh products made by four medical device companies who are now defendants in the litigation: Ethicon (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary that has just reached a settlement in most of its lawsuits), C.R. Bard (now part of Beckton Dickinson), Covidien, and Atrium Medical Corp. The alleged defects and the product liability claims asserted against all these defendants are similar enough to talk about them collectively.

New – Hernia mesh lawsuit update for the verdict in Milanesi and Stinson and information on Ethicon hernia mesh settlement in March 2023

March 22, 2023 New Bellwether Date in October

The Judge in the Bard hernia mesh class action MDL has reset the date for the third bellwether trial to October 16, 2023. The trial was originally scheduled for May 15, 2023, but earlier this month Judge Sargus unexpectedly agreed to postpone the date at the request of Bard’s defense team. The results from the first 2 bellwether trials were mixed (1 win and 1 loss for the plaintiffs), but in August 2022 a jury in a Rhode Island state court hernia mesh trial awarded $4.8 million.

March 20, 2023 Bellwether Trials Update

The critical 3rd bellwether test trial in the C.R. Bard hernia mesh class action was supposed to start on May 15, 2023. Last week, however, the MDL Judge granted a request by Bard to formally postpone that trial. A new trial date has not yet been established but will likely be later this year.

We will know more soon but the assumption is this case will settle. Last week, the plaintiff cleared summary judgment which is likely what Bard needed before making a reasonable settlement offer.

February 9, 2023 Bellwether Trials Update

The Bard MDL issued the detailed schedule for the bellwether test trial in the Stinson case. The trial will commence on May 15, 2023. Final witness lists are due this month. Judge Sargus is also requiring the parties to submit proposed dates for a 4th bellwether trial later this year.

January 26, 2023 Bard MDL Update

This is not really an update but we wrote a status of the hernia mesh lawsuits page today that breaks down where we are and the hopes for a settlement.

January 18, 2023 Bard MDL Update

The hernia mesh class action lawsuit against C.R. Bard added another 176 new cases over the last month. This marks the most significant percentage increase of any product liability MDL during that period. The total pending case count in the MDL is now 18,403. The next bellwether trial is still set for May 2023. There is hope of a settlement before that case goes to trial.

January 3, 2022 Coviden MDL Update

While victims wait for the big domino to fall into a settlement – C.R. Bard – the Covidien hernia mesh MDL in the District of Massachusetts is just getting started. A mandatory plaintiff fact sheet was recently approved in the Covidien MDL, which only has 136 pending cases. There are several thousand Covidien hernia mesh cases consolidated in state courts in Massachusetts, and an effort is being made to coordinate discovery between the state and federal actions.

The hope is that a Bard hernia mesh settlement triggers settlement in the smaller MDLs like Covidien.

November 17, 2022 C.R. Bard Update

After adding another 166 new hernia mesh injury cases over the last month, the C.R. Bard class action MDL has almost 18,000 pending cases. There were about 15,000 pending cases in the MDL at the start of 2022. The continued growth of the MDL should increase the pressure on Bard’s parent company, Beckton Dickson, to work out a global settlement deal. The next bellwether trial is set for February and a good result could help push us past the finish line to reasonable settlement payouts for victims who have waited far too long. Or… Bard comes to its sense and makes a fair settlement offer to avoid another verdict.

October 28, 2022 Covidien Mesh Lawsuit Update

At a recent status conference in the Covidien hernia mesh class action MDL, the parties advised Judge Patti Saris (D. Mass.) that 170 Covidien hernia mesh cases are currently pending in federal courts, 5,700 lawsuits pending against Covidien in Massachusetts state courts (Covidien’s home state). The central issue at the status conference was the proposed discovery plan submitted by Covidien. The plaintiffs’ committee is vehemently opposed to the proposal because it would give them under one year to complete corporate discovery.

October 1, 2022 Hernia Mesh Trial Update

Trial in the Bard Hernia Mesh MDL has been confirmed for February 21, 2023, in the case of Stinson v. C.R. Bard et al. Dispositive motions and expert challenges are due next week on October 7, 2022. Bard knows their motions will fail and this trial will go forward if it does not offer reasonable settlement amounts. The first bellwether trial ended in a defense verdict, the 2nd trial resulted in a mediocre verdict, and the third trial was a $4.8 million verdict.

September 16, 2022 Atrium Mesh Update

Bard is not the only class action lawsuit in the mesh litigation, as many people are apt to forget. There are now 3,308 cases pending in the Atrium hernia mesh MDL in New Hampshire (the baby of the hernia mesh class action MDLs). This is an increase of 17 new lawsuits over the last 30 days. So that class action is slowly growing.

August 29, 2022 Hernia Mesh Verdict Update

A Rhode Island jury awarded $4.8 million in damages in the Trevino. The jury found that Bard’s Ventralex hernia mesh was defectively designed and the company filed to warn of the risks.

August 28, 2022 New Hernia Mesh MDL Update

Yes, there are more hernia mesh class action lawsuits that do not involve Bard. The judge presiding over the new Covidien hernia mesh MDL in Massachusetts – Hon. Patti B. Saris – held the first status conference with lawyers for both sides this week. Just two months after the Covidien hernia mesh cases were consolidated into a class action, there are now 90 cases pending in the MDL.

Judge Saris will be making appointments to the plaintiff leadership committee in the coming weeks, after which a plan for discovery and the selection of initial bellwether cases will be the next items on the MDL agenda.

August 27, 2022 Hernia Mesh State Court Lawsuit Update

The jury is out in Trevino v. Bard, a state court case in Rhode Island Superior Court (August 28, 2022 Update – no news.)

August 26, 2022 – Hernia Mesh Class Action Update

Is a hernia mesh settlement finally on the horizon? It may be. A settlement mediator was appointed by the Bard mesh class action judge last week.

Notably, the settlement mediator was appointed with the joint agreement of lawyers on both sides to facilitate negotiations on the global settlement of the C.R. Bard hernia mesh lawsuits. If the Bard domino falls, other hernia mesh class actions might also fall into place.

This is a significant step forward that could result in a negotiated settlement before the end of 2022. The MDL judge also scheduled two more bellwether trials for February – the long-awaited Stinson case Bard wants to avoid – and another in May 2023. So that gives Bard an extra incentive to offer reasonable settlement payouts for victims before that case goes to trial.

August 24, 2022 Covidien Class Action Update

Judge Patti B. Saris held the first status conference this week in the new Covidien hernia mesh MDL in Massachusetts. The Covidien hernia mesh MDL was established in June and has 90 pending cases. The first order of business for Judge Saris will be to appoint attorneys to serve on the plaintiffs’ leadership committee. Once that is done, the next task will be establishing a discovery plan and protocol for selecting initial bellwether test cases.

August 4, 2022 – Hernia Mesh Class Action Update

A hernia mesh trial against C.R. Bard in Providence, Rhode Island, recently revealed that Bard allegedly used a plastic resin in its mesh products even after the plastic supplier told them it was unsafe.

C.R. Bard used a plastic made by LyondellBasell called Pro-fax 6523 in all of its hernia mesh products because it was the cheapest available material that met specifications.

Bard did this, although LyondellBasell deemed Pro-fax 6523 unfit for permanent implantation inside the body and expressly prohibited buyers from using it in hernia mesh products. That C.R. Bard knowingly ignored this is a new revelation that could swing the momentum in the C.R. Bard class action MDL if these allegations are true.

July 29, 2022 – Hernia Mesh Class Action Update

There are now four separate hernia mesh class-action MDLS. Each of the MDLs involves claims against hernia mesh products made by different manufacturers. The most recent of the four hernia mesh MDLs involves claims against Covidien over its Parietex hernia patch implant.

The Covidien MDL was formed a few months ago. As of July 15, 2022, it had 85 plaintiffs with pending cases. Many of these plaintiffs claim that the absorbable barrier and the polyester fibers of the Parietex hernia patch were defective, causing the patch to migrate out of position or fail at an abnormally high rate.

July 22, 2022 – Hernia Mesh Class Action Update

The last month saw another high volume of new hernia mesh lawsuits added to the C.R. Bard hernia mesh MDL. Between June 15 and July 15, 216 new hernia mesh lawsuits were transferred into the Bard MDL, bringing the total case count up to 17,195.

The recent increase in new filings could be in reaction to the rumors that a global settlement agreement may soon be in the works, and lawyers are getting cases filed in advance of those negotiations.

July 15, 2022 – Hernia Mesh Class Action Update

Back in April, the second bellwether trial in the C.R. Bard Hernia Mesh MDL resulted in a verdict of $225,000 for the plaintiffs. None of the participants were delighted with the result – Bard did not like the plaintiff’s verdict and the plaintiff did not like the verdict. Both sides promptly filed motions seeking to overturn the verdict.

The defense motion argued that there was not sufficient evidence of causation. The plaintiffs claimed that the jury was not adequately instructed on calculating damages. The MDL judge issued a pair of orders denying both motions and ensuring that the bellwether verdict will stand unless vacated on appeal.

July 7, 2022 – Hernia Mesh Class Action Update

Good news out of the MDL class action lawsuit. Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. ruled that Bard’s lawyers’ request for a “Lone Pine” order that would have put a significant burden on victims and their lawyers would be denied.

Bard wanted to make plaintiffs’ attorneys produce more case-specific evidence than you usually would expect in class action litigation at this phase.

The judge said such an order would be unnecessary because there was already bountiful evidence of the core of each plaintiff’s claim. Plaintiffs have already answered fact sheets that provide medical records and other evidence of their injuries.

June 20, 2022 – Hernia Mesh Class Action Update

C.R. Bard wants to reduce the number of hernia mesh lawsuits filed against it before settlement negotiations begin in earnest. So it asked the court for a docket control order hoping to get some cases dismissed.

The plaintiffs strongly opposed the docket control order being sought by the defendants in the C.R. Bard hernia mesh MDL. The opposition blasts the defense for seeking “de facto summary judgment” and claims that the relief requested is unjustified, overly burdensome, and unprecedented. On Friday, the defense submitted a reply suggesting that the benefits in managing the MDL would justify the burden on plaintiffs.

May 28, 2o22 -Hernia Mesh Lawsuit Update

The judge in the Strattice hernia mesh lawsuits (currently consolidated in a New Jersey state court version of an MDL) recently issued an order establishing detailed rules and protocol for the preservation and testing of physical evidence. The order explicitly addresses the preservation of explanted mesh implants and tissue samples from plaintiffs who undergo corrective surgery. The rules were jointly proposed by the parties and aim to avoid issues arising in previous hernia mesh MDLs.

May 24, 2022 – Milanesi Appeal

Hernia mesh lawyers were glad to win Milanesi but unhappy with the verdict. Bard was disappointed with the verdict. So neither side was entirely happy with the $250,000 verdict awarded to Plaintiffs Antonio and Alicia Milanesi in the 2nd bellwether trial against C.R. Bard.

Soon after the verdict was issued, both the plaintiffs and the defendants filed motions challenging the verdict. The plaintiffs filed a Motion for a New Trial on Damages (FRCP 59) because the trial judge failed to correctly instruct the jury that the defense had the burden of proof on the issue of mitigation of damages.

Bard’s defense team filed a Motion for Judgement as a Matter of Law (FRCP 50(b)), claiming that the plaintiffs failed to prove that the hernia mesh was defective under Florida’s risk-utility standard. Bard’s motion also argues that the plaintiffs did not establish causation under Florida law.

Responses to both motions are due tomorrow.

Milanesi Verdict of $255,000

In 2021, we lost one mesh trial, the Johns case. We won Milanesi v. C.R. Bard in April 2022, with a $255,000 verdict in a Bard Ventralex case that was tried in the Southern District of Ohio.

This post speculates on how much these hernia mesh lawsuits are worth. Did Milanesi change these numbers? No. Many were disappointed with the size of the verdict. But that case had some unique defenses you will not see in most cases.

This post will offer a reasonable estimate of how much individual hernia mesh claims might be worth in the final settlement.

Where Do Settlement Talks Go After the Milanesi Verdict?

Settlement talks in the hernia mesh lawsuit have yet to produce a global settlement. I am perplexed as to why Bard has not offered reasonable settlement amounts. Some of the Bard claims have been settled in Rhode Island state court. So obviously, Bard is not allergic to the idea of settlement. Bard might be the domino that would also get the Covidien lawsuits settled. But nothing has happened so that we may have a third bellwether hernia mesh trial.

When Is the Next Hernia Mesh Trial?

Unfortunately, there is no trial date set for the next hernia mesh trial after the Johns and Milanesi verdicts. Our lawyers expect there could be a trial date in October 2022.

The next trial in the Bard hernia mesh class lawsuit will likely be a PerFix Plug defect claim.

February 2022 Hernia Mesh Lawsuits

Covidien Hernia Mesh Lawsuit Update: The Covidien class action lawsuit was rejected by the MDL Panel for not having enough plaintiffs. That will change soon enough, so you can expect a new motion to be filed as more cases get filed. Covidien mesh lawyers argued before the MDL Panel that more Covidien lawsuits were coming. The MDL Panel said that “coming soon” was not enough.

In another MDL class action lawsuit effort for Atrium Prolite and Proloop, the defendants are arguing against creating a hernia mesh class action against them.

Summary of the Hernia Mesh Lawsuits

A hernia mesh is a small piece of surgical mesh or screen used to reinforce and strengthen tissue walls in hernia surgeries. The hernia mesh products at issue in the lawsuits suffered from a host of similar defects in their design which caused them to fail.

Some of the mesh products were made out of materials that were not “biologically inert,” which caused the patient’s immune system to reject the mesh as a foreign object. Other mesh products had a design flaw that caused them to attach and fuse into the adjacent tissue abnormally.

The defects in these hernia mesh implants caused them to fail after being implanted. The results were severe post-surgical complications which eventually required the patients to undergo corrective surgery to remove the defective mesh. Many patients were left with permanent injuries.

As these hernia mesh injuries started accumulating, a steady stream of product liability lawsuits were filed in response. Within a year, the number of hernia mesh lawsuits in federal courts around the country was enough to trigger the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to create three new class action MDLs for consolidated handling of the cases:

The Bard Hernia Mesh MDL (In re: Davol, Inc./C.R. Bard, Inc., Polypropylene Hernia Mesh Products Liability Lit. – MDL-2846)
The Ethicon Hernia Mesh MDL (In re: Ethicon Physiomesh Flexible Composite Hernia Mesh Products Liability Lit. – MDL-2782) (which has recently settled, but new cases will continue to be filed)
Atrium C-Qur Hernia Mesh MDL (In re: Atrium Medical Corp. C-Qur Mesh Products Liability Litigation – MDL-2753)

The ProLite, Strattice, and ProLoop (manufactured by Atrium Medical Corp.) are the latest polypropylene hernia mesh products to be the subject of a growing wave of product liability lawsuits.

The lawsuits allege that the polypropylene material these products are made from is defective because it is not biologically inert and degrades inside the body leading to infections and chronic pain. Atrium is accused of ignoring scientific studies showing the various problems with polypropylene mesh implants.

Lawyers for some of the plaintiffs in the ProLite hernia mesh lawsuits filed a motion asking the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate all pending ProLite and ProLoop lawsuits into a new MDL. But this effort was rejected and these cases will proceed as individual claims.

What Is the Nutshell of the Allegations in the Bard Hernia Mesh Class Action?

In the Bard hernia mesh lawsuits, the plaintiffs argue that they have suffered harm as a result of being implanted with hernia mesh manufactured by Bard (and Beckton Dickinson).

The plaintiffs claim that the mesh was defectively designed and manufactured, causing a number of complications such as pain, infection, mesh migration, mesh shrinkage, perforation of organs, and recurrent hernias. The plaintiffs further argue that Bard failed to adequately warn of these risks and did not provide adequate instructions for safe use.

As a result, the plaintiffs seek compensation for their physical and emotional injuries, as well as for any financial losses they incurred as a result of their complications.

Settlements in Prior Surgical Mesh Cases

Estimating the potential settlement amounts of product liability claims in a mass tort is hardly an exact science. There are too many variables and unknowns that can have a drastic impact on settlement compensation.

In the hernia mesh litigation, in addition to the bellwether trials, we do have some prior verdicts in earlier hernia mesh or surgical mesh defect lawsuits. These results give us some basis to come up with a reasonable value estimate for the present cases. The prior mesh litigation involved C.R. Bard and its Kugel Hernia Mesh product.

What Is the Expected Settlement Amount for the Average Hernia Mesh Lawsuit?

Based on the awards in the Kugel hernia mesh litigation and results in similar medical device cases, our lawyers believe that claims in the current hernia mesh litigation could end up with a settlement value between $50,000 and $1,000,000.

The reason this range is so broad is that the value of each individual claim will vary significantly based on the level of injury involved.

Prior Mesh Settlement Amounts

The Kugel was an earlier type of hernia mesh. Unfortunately, it had a serious design flaw which caused a plastic ring on the mesh to break off inside the patient after being implanted. This caused painful bowel obstruction and required corrective surgery – very similar to the injuries involved in the current hernia mesh cases.

After a $1.5 million verdict in the first Kugel bellwether case, Bard agreed to a $184 million global settlement which amounted to $70,000 per claim. Not all claimants received the same amount, however, with some getting more and some less than $70,000 per person.

The settlement in the Kugel hernia mesh litigation resulted in a very similar value range for individual cases. The total Kugel hernia mesh lawsuit settlement payment of $184,000,000 resolved just over 2,000 individual claims, which equals about $70k per claim.

But each plaintiff in the Kugel litigation did not simply get a $70k check. Instead, the plaintiffs were grouped into settlement tiers with a points system based on the level of injury they suffered. Plaintiffs in Tier 1 had the most severe injuries and reportedly received around $900,000. Tier 2 plaintiffs reportedly received less than half of this amount and the bottom tier plaintiffs got much less than the $70k per claim average.

Vaginal Mesh Also Gives Us Settlement Value Clues

We saw similar mesh lawsuit settlement numbers in another mass tort case involving Endo International’s vaginal mesh implants. In that litigation (which had many similarities to the hernia mess litigation), Endo paid $900 million to settle about 20,000 individual claims. This worked out to an average individual settlement amount of $45,000 per claim. But the settlement proceeds were distributed based on a tiered settlement system. The cases in the lowest settlement tier received very little, while plaintiffs in the top tier received over $500,000.

Of course, some plaintiffs opted out of the Kugel hernia mesh settlements. Bard veterans will remember a jury awarded a plaintiff $3.6 million in a mesh lawsuit in 2016. In 2018, another jury awarded a plaintiff $18.5 million in a mesh lawsuit (Boston Scientific was the defendant). So Bard understands that juries will award large verdicts in mesh cases where the injuries are severe.

What If I Don't Know Who Made My Hernia Mesh?

You will not need to know who made your hernia mesh to start your claim. The hernia mesh lawyers will get your medical records and verify that you have a defective hernia mesh. Sadly, most of the products are targeted by a hernia mesh lawsuit.

Do I Qualify for a Hernia Mesh Lawsuit?

You may qualify for a hernia mesh lawsuit if you underwent hernia repair surgery in which a mesh was used and you subsequently suffered serious post-surgery complications such as adhesion or infection that were potentially related to defects in the hernia mesh.

(In this sense, “qualify” is defined as our hernia mesh lawyers being willing to take your case.)

Contact Us About Your Hernia Mesh Case

It is not too late to file your hernia mesh lawsuit. If you were injured by a defective hernia mesh implant, call our hernia mesh lawyers today at 800-553-5053.