Direct Filing of New Bard IVC Filter Lawsuits Obstructed

Direct Filing of New Bard IVC Filter Lawsuits Obstructed

Introduction

According to a case management order issued on May 31, Judge Campbell has declared that new cases of Bard IVC Filter can no longer be filed directly in the District of Arizona.

Following the declaration, any new cases filed in the MDL will be rejected by the court, and the filing fee will be refunded. Each IVC filter lawsuit has to be filed in appropriate U.S. District Court and proceed with an individual trial schedule; the parties can access the consolidated discovery and rulings that were made in the MDL. Judge Campbell had previously indicated that the MDL work was towards completion, following which each case was to be returned to the court for a separate trial date where it was originally filed.

U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell is presiding over more than 7,000 IVC Filter lawsuits filed against C.R. Bard under MDL No. 2641; In Re: Bard IVC Filters Products Liability Litigation. Additionally, around 4,000 Cook IVC filter lawsuits are pending in a separate MDL, alleging that the devices sold by this competing manufacturer carry similar design defects. In February, an Indianapolis jury awarded a plaintiff $3 million in compensatory damages.