Judge Allows Expert’s Report In Hernia Mesh Lawsuits

Judge Allows Expert’s Report In Hernia Mesh Lawsuits

Introduction

The U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus rejected the request made by the defendants to exclude supplemental expert reports submitted by plaintiffs over the first Bard hernia mesh bellwether trial that approaches within two months.

On March 10, two evidentiary motion orders were issued by Judge Sargus, both of which were in regards to the request from the manufacturer to strike supplementary reports submitted by plaintiffs’ expert witnesses, which involved the link between hernia mesh complications and the design of the hernia patches.

According to the first order, Judge Sargus addressed Bard’s effort to strike a supplemental report and reliance list by Dr. David Grischkan, whose testimony would be an integral part of the first bellwether trial, scheduled for May 11, 2020. The judge allowed the company to submit an expert's report to rebut Grischkan’s findings in the case selected as the first bellwether plaintiff.

The second order is an almost identical situation with another plaintiff’s expert who is also filing a pair of supplemental reports in support of the same case. However, the court granted Bard’s request to strike most of one report but cleared a second report by El-Ghannam for use in the upcoming trial.

The mesh products named in the lawsuits contain polypropylene material, which can easily break, shrink or wear off. This often leads to device migration, organ perforation, infection, and several other complications. Lawsuits allege the defective design of the hernia mesh often required the patients to undergo additional correction surgeries.