First Bard IVC Filter Bellwether Trial set for March

First Bard IVC Filter Bellwether Trial set for March. As injured IVC filter plaintiffs wait for their day in court, the first Bard IVC filter bellwether trial is off to the races on March 14 in Phoenix, Arizona.

The over 3,500 plaintiffs consolidated in the C.R. Bard MDL litigation have waited several years for this day to arrive. Since August 2015, all personal injury and product liability lawsuits filed throughout the federal court system over injuries from the Bard IVC filters have been centralized before U.S. District Judge David Campbell in the District of Arizona as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation.

The scheduled start of the first Bard IVC filter bellwether trial is set and both sides will be focused on the verdict to determine how the remaining bellwether cases might go and finally if the remaining 3,500 cases in C.R. Bard multidistrict litigation may end up in a global settlement.

Sherr-Una Booker’s Bard IVC filter lawsuit is the first to go, Booker was implanted with a C.R. Bard G2 IVC filter in June 2007 and she suffered personal injuries as a result.

C.R. Bard, Cook Medical, and Cordis are the main IVC manufacturers facing IVC filter lawsuits, Cook is exposed to 3,750 IVC filter lawsuits in a separate MDL based in Indiana.

What is an IVC filter?

IVC filters known as inferior vena cava filters are umbrella-like devices placed in the inferior vena cava to prevent blood clots in the leg from traveling to the heart, lungs and in some cases the brain, causing severe injuries.

Blood thinners or anticoagulants are the front line treatment of leg blood clots. But in some patients blood thinners are contra-indicated for example if a patient has a pre-existing bleeding problem and so the IVC filter was designed to be fixed in the inferior vena cava to block a migrating blood clot, preventing it from traveling to vital organs where it could do the most damage.

IVC filters are meant to be temporarily implanted, designed to be removed once the risk of the blood clot has passed. In reality, the majority of retrievable IVC filters are either never retrieved, or retrieved after the retrieval window time-period recommended by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has passed.

Some cannot be retrieved at all, because of the filter embedment causing severe injury risk to the patient. In several instances, the IVC filter has been found to embedded and perforating the wall of the inferior vena cava, tilting or breaking free from the insertion point and migrating to the heart and lungs. The spider-like struts of the IVC filter have been found to snap off and embolize or migrate, into vital organs.

Booker trial to be held in two phases

Judge Campbell, has ordered that the Booker bellwether trial will be conducted in two phases, a determination of liability, compensatory damages and whether the plaintiff should be awarded punitive damages followed, by a second phase that will determine the amount of any punitive damages.

IVC Filter Injury Lawsuits

If you think you may have a Bard Recovery, G2, Cook Celect, Gunther Tulip, Cordis Optease, Trapease IVC Filter implanted and have suffered IVC filter failure or injuries by embedment, migration or embolization requiring emergency care or invasive surgery, please call Dr. Shezad Malik Law Firm at 888-210-9693. Dr. Shezad Malik Law Firm is based in Dallas, Texas and is investigating and accepting IVC Filter Injury cases nationwide.

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