September 1, 2025 – More Lawsuits Filed Before Possible Settlement
There is an increasing number of Covidien hernia mesh lawsuits being filed in anticipation of a possible settlement.
In a new lawsuit filed on Friday in the
District of Massachusetts as part of the Covidien Hernia Mesh MDL, a
New Mexico resident alleges that he suffered serious complications
following the implantation of a defective hernia mesh product
manufactured by Covidien LP and Sofradim Production SAS. The plaintiff
claims he was implanted with the Parietex Optimized Composite Mesh on or
about August 2, 2021, in New Mexico, and has since required corrective
surgery due to complications from the device.
The lawsuit incorporates claims from
the MDL’s Master Complaint, asserting causes of action for strict
product liability (defective design, failure to warn, and manufacturing
defect), negligence, gross negligence, and violations of both New Mexico
and Massachusetts consumer protection laws. It also alleges breach of
warranty, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress,
fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment, and seeks punitive
damages.
August 21, 2025 – Settlement
Judge Patti Saris granted Covidien
and Medtronic an additional four months to participate in mediation,
extending the settlement deadline to January 14, 2026. That is a win for
the defense, which has every incentive to stall, but it does nothing
for the thousands of patients who have been waiting years for justice.
Plaintiffs want a trial, not another extension, and thankfully, the
judge kept the February 2026 bellwether date locked in. That date is the
critical pressure point.
Because, until a jury rules,
Covidien can continue to prolong this. A February verdict is the moment
of truth, the scoreboard that will drive real settlement dollars.
Plaintiffs know it, defendants know it, and the court knows it. This
extension just stretches the pregame warm-up. The real fight begins when
those bellwether trials start, and that is where plaintiffs finally get
what they want… a jury weighing the evidence.
August 4, 2025 – Bard Hernia Mesh MDL Case Count and Settlement Context
As
of August 1, 2025, 24,029 active cases are pending in MDL 2846,
consolidated in the Southern District of Ohio before Judge Edmund
Sargus. This tells us two things: (1) new cases are still being filed
post-settlement, and (2) the process of getting settlement checks is
taking longer than victims would have hoped.
July 29, 2025 – Strattice Hernia Mesh Lawsuits
A New Mexico woman has sued Covidien
and Sofradim Production SAS, alleging injuries from the implantation of a
Symbotex Composite Mesh hernia device.
Filed as part of the hernia mesh
multidistrict litigation in the District of Massachusetts, the suit
contends that the plaintiff required surgical intervention following the
2016 implantation procedure.
The
plaintiff asserts multiple claims, including defective design, failure
to warn, manufacturing defect, and various negligence-based counts. She
also invokes New Mexico and Massachusetts consumer protection laws and
seeks punitive damages. The case underscores ongoing concerns in the
hernia mesh litigation involving allegations of inadequate testing and
misrepresentations about the safety and efficacy of the mesh products.
July 10, 2025 – Bard Mesh Lawsuits Moving Forward
Our lawyers are still seeing a steady
flow of new Bard hernia mesh lawsuits. Not a ton of lawyers are looking
at new cases but we are.
Many of these cases are coming from
patients who only recently connected their chronic pain or surgical
complications to their earlier mesh implant. That delay between
implantation and diagnosis is common and expected.
Hernia mesh complications often
emerge slowly over time as the material breaks down, adheres to tissue,
migrates, or causes infection or inflammation. A person might live for
months or even years with unexplained pain, digestive issues, or hernia
recurrence before a doctor pinpoints the underlying issue as mesh
failure. So these cases will go on for a while.
The process for settling new cases
is still likely pretty far away. That is the reality. The next major
procedural step will not begin until January 2027, when the court
launches the Inventory Settlement Process (ISP). This will mark the
formal start of active settlement negotiations–but that is still more
than two years away. In the meantime, plaintiffs must wait, and their
cases remain in procedural limbo.
The ISP is designed to last until
all claims are addressed. However, for those whose claims are not
resolved by June 2029, there will be an option to opt out of the process
and resume individual litigation. That means some victims may still be
without a resolution four-and-a-half years from now.
Bard might decide it wants to get
rid of these cases hanging over its head and offer a fair settlement.
This is possible. But honestly, we think it is unlikely.
June 2, 2025 – Case Count Updates
The two major hernia mesh multidistrict litigations—Bard and Covidien—continue to move forward, albeit on different tracks.
- Bard Hernia Mesh MDL (MDL No. 2846 – S.D. Ohio): As
of June 1, the Bard Hernia Mesh MDL has 25,015 active cases, up from
24,074 at the start of May. That is a net increase of 941 cases in just
one month.
Although a major settlement resolved
many claims last year, the litigation remains open and active. New
lawsuits continue to be filed, while some older cases are being
dismissed—either through resolution or procedural steps. The increase
shows that despite earlier deals, Bard is still facing ongoing legal
exposure as additional plaintiffs step forward.
- Covidien Hernia Mesh MDL (MDL No. 3029 – D. Mass.)
The Covidien MDL experienced slower movement last month, adding six
new active cases to bring the total to 2,004, up from 1,998. This
litigation is still in an earlier phase compared to Bard, with discovery
and case development continuing. Plaintiffs’ Covidien hernia mesh
lawyers are excited about the upcoming bellwether trial. Normally, we
say we think the defendants will try to settle before the significant
bellwether. But this case might get tried. Because I don’t think
Covidien settlement amounts will be as low as they were for Bard.
May 21, 2025 – New Hernia Mesh Lawsuit
A federal hernia mesh lawsuit filed
by a Mississippi woman has been selected as the second bellwether case
in the Covidien hernia mesh multidistrict litigation (MDL No. 3029). Her
trial is scheduled to begin on July 13, 2026, in the U.S. District
Court for the District of Massachusetts. Again, the first bellwether is
set for February 17, 2026, involving an Alabama plaintiff who alleges a
defect in her Parietex Optimized Composite Mesh.
The second bellwether trial involves
allegations that a Symbotex hernia mesh device implanted in January
2017 during ventral hernia repair caused severe complications, including
adhesions, chronic inflammation, bowel problems, infections, and the
need for corrective surgery. The lawsuit alleges that the collagen
coating on the mesh prematurely resorbed, thereby defeating its intended
purpose of preventing adhesion.
The problem in getting these cases
settled before that trial is the Bard settlement. Covidien will not get
the exact numbers that Bard got. If they are waiting for that, those
trials will go forward.
May 8, 2025 – New Hernia Mesh Lawsuit
Settlement or not, new lawsuits
continue to flow. In one new suit, a Virginia resident has sued Bard,
alleging serious injuries stemming from the implantation of a hernia
mesh device. The plaintiff, a resident of Kenbridge, Virginia, underwent
hernia repair surgeries at VCU Medical Center in February 2022 and
again in March 2023. During the second surgery, Bard’s 3D Max Mesh
product was implanted.
The lawsuit claims that the mesh
caused severe complications, including a recurrent incisional hernia,
extensive adhesions requiring surgical removal of the mesh, and a left
orchiectomy. The plaintiff asserts that Bard, both individually and as
the parent company of Davol, Inc., is liable for designing,
manufacturing, marketing, and distributing a defective medical device.
The complaint emphasizes Bard’s failure to meet applicable safety
standards, alleging inadequate warnings and improper labeling.
The plaintiff contends that Bard
derived substantial revenue from the interstate sale of hernia mesh
devices and exercised direct control over product safety and adverse
event reporting. Jurisdiction is asserted in New Jersey based on Bard’s
corporate presence and business operations within the state.
April 11, 2025 – Bellwether Trial Set in Covidien
se
because the polyester used in Covidien’s products is even more
problematic than the materials used by Bard.
Covidien Plaintiffs claim that polyester incites inflammation and a
heightened foreign body response. It is described as being more brittle
and significantly more susceptible to fatigue fracture, breakage,
fragmentation, and other mechanical failures. Bard’s hernia mesh
typically used polypropylene, which, with all of its flaws, does not
have the same level of brittleness or susceptibility to mechanical
failures as alleged with polyester.
As of May 1, there were 1,081 cases in the Covidien MDL-3029.
When will the Covidien hernia mesh case settle? Let’s just say that
is projected to be after the Bard settlement, although there is hope for
a domino effect.
March 19, 2024 – Settlement Is Focus
All the energy in the hernia mesh litigation – even for non-Bard
cases – is centered around settlement negotiations set to begin on
Monday. Too many victims have waited far too long. Are the parties far
apart at this point? No. But even small differences are many millions
of dollars.
After all this time, the plaintiffs want to get as much as possible.
Bard wants to pay as little as possible, and there are no trial dates
to put real pressure on them to move off its position. Still, there is a
sense Bard wants to move on from this. It has other litigation – the BardPowerPort litigation
is getting in full swing – to manage. If these cases get remanded,
Bard’s legal costs will escalate quickly. Hopefully, that realization
forces Bard to offer reasonable settlement amounts to resolve these
lawsuits.
March 16, 2024 – Settlement Circle Is Small
Judge Sargus issued an order that establishes the mediation plan and
schedule aimed at facilitating settlement in the Bard hernia mesh MDL.
According to the order, an in-person mediation session is slated for
March 25 and March 26, 2024. The parties involved will convene under the
guidance of Court-Appointed Mediator John Jackson, with further
meetings subject to the mediator’s discretion.
However, if the parties fail to reach a mutually acceptable
resolution or extend the deadline for discussions, they must notify the
court of an impasse by May 24, 2024. In the event of an impasse, the
parties are directed to collaborate on a joint proposal outlining a plan
for advancing the litigation, including suggestions for remand. This
proposal, or individual submissions if no consensus is reached, must be
submitted by June 24, 2024. The court may then set a schedule for
subsequent briefing and/or argument on the proposals.
These settlement negotiations that impact thousands of plaintiffs do
not require a big conference room like you might think. The group is
small. The plaintiffs will send just three lawyers on their negotiation
committee.
March 1, 2024 – Covidien MDL
Judge Saris, the Covidien MDL judge, has ordered the company to
release a significant number of complaint files in the pretrial
discovery process. These documents detail the issues faced by
individuals following the use of hernia repair products distributed in
the last decade.
Covidien was instructed to submit an extensive collection of hernia
mesh complaint files without redactions to speed up the production
process. As it should, this order bars plaintiffs from using any
personal data from the complaint files unless they demonstrate a valid
reason and obtain court or defendant approval.
It has been slow but this litigation is starting to move forward. Key
deadlines have been set, including October 14, 2024, for submitting
dispositive or Daubert motions, and November 22, 2024, for responses to
these motions. So we are looking at a bellwether trial in 2025.
January 4, 2024 – Plaintiffs’ Want to Push Ball Forward Faster
What would put more pressure on Bard to make a reasonable settlement
offer in the hernia mesh lawsuits in 2024? More trials. Plaintiffs
keep winning but the spacing of these wins zaps some of the momentum.
The plaintiff’s hernia mesh lawyers have been trying to change this,
asking for a new Case Management Order to oversee the future handling of
cases and potential remand to state court where we can start trying
these cases in multiple jurisdictions. Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that
it’s time for an order that sets out a process for remand to ensure
plaintiffs, many of whom have been waiting for nearly six years, will
get their day in court or reach a fair resolution of their claims.
Their proposed order doesn’t suggest dumping all cases into district
courts at once but rather working up cases in large groups at intervals.
Once case-specific discovery is done, cases will be remanded back to
the original district courts. The first group includes 1,500 cases,
about 7.5% of the total filed cases.
The attorneys argue that continuing at the current pace of 1 to 2
trials per year would be impractical, taking thousands of years to try
every case. They propose a measured approach to remand, beginning the
process now, and organizing it in a logical and efficient manner. This
includes selecting cases based on severity of injury, length of time
filed, and involvement in bellwether trials. They also suggest
multi-plaintiff trials to allocate costs efficiently and avoid duplicate
testimony.
Here is where we are after four trials.
| CASE |
DATE |
RESULT |
VENUE |
| Stinson |
Oct 2023 |
$500,000 |
MDL |
| Trevino |
Aug 2022 |
$4.8 million |
Rhode Island |
| Milanesi |
April 2022 |
$250,000 |
MDL |
| Johns |
July 2021 |
DEFENSE |
MDL |
Hopefully, if Bard is not going to come to its senses, we can have
four trials a month instead of four trials over two-and-a-half years.
December 5, 2023 – Ethicon Settlement in Georgia
Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Ethicon, have reached a
settlement in a Georgia multidistrict litigation involving 224 lawsuits.
The settlement agreement was formalized with a joint motion for
dismissal of the claims, which was filed by both parties and
subsequently granted by U.S. District Judge Richard W. Story. Ethicon
Inc. issued a statement with the usual blah blah blah about its
commitment to patient safety and reminding us all that the settlement is
not an admission of liability or wrongdoing. They stated that the
decision to settle was made to avoid a prolonged legal process.
This settlement follows a previous agreement approximately six months
earlier, where the companies had settled with 161 plaintiffs in the
same MDL
November 9, 2023 – $500,000 Verdict
The jury came back in Stinson with a $500,000 verdict. It is not
$4.8 million like the last one, but this is a big win. Plaintiffs are
winning these cases.
Here is the verdict sheet from the jury..
July 1, 2023 – Post-Trial Conversations with Jurors
In the first bellwether trial, the Johns case that is discussed below
in the older updates, resulted in a defense verdict. One lesson the
plaintiffs got from that verdict is that Mr. Johns’ failure to seek
additional medical treatment did not help his cause.
A lawyer in the MDL leadership said this to someone who put it on
their website. Bard, being petty, thought that the attorney must have
talked to a juror. Ohio has a local rule that you cannot talk to jurors
after the trial without the court’s permission (which is a little bit
of an unusual rule).
So, already fearful that the next two cases going to trial are not
“representative” because the victims have severe injuries, they filed a
motion complaining about his breach of ethics and saying the cases that
went to trial after Johns were not representative of the other cases in
the MDL. But the plaintiffs’ attorneys were able to explain that the
‘feedback’ mentioned was based on a jury question during deliberations
and the Court’s comments in a meeting with the PSC.
This satisfied Judge Argus. So Bard just wasted everyone’s time
chasing windmills instead of working on offering a reasonable settlement
amount to resolve the 20,000 lawsuits against it.
ut mediation efforts are advancing.