“We represent many women who have filed lawsuits over alleged injuries associated with transvaginal mesh and continue to provide free legal advice for anyone who seeks more information about their rights,” Mr. Falkowitz noted.
Port Washington, New York (PRWEB) August 27, 2014
Parker Waichman LLP, a national law firm long dedicated to protecting the rights of victims injured by defective medical devices, reports that the Court has put new rules in place for discovery procedures, specifically Collection and Preservation of Evidence, in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) brought over C.R. Bard’s transvaginal mesh devices. (MDL No. 2187, In Re: C.R. Bard, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, the United States District Court, Southern District or West Virginia; Honorable Joseph R. Goodwin)
The new rules provide that “discovery in this proceeding may involve the collection, division, storage, preservation, and production of biomaterials evidence for which special handling, division, storage, and preservation would be warranted,” the Court indicated. The Evidence Protocol Order—Pretrial Order #136—was filed on August 18, 2014 in the MDL court that oversees the C.R. Bard litigation (In re: C.R. Bard, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation; Case 2:10-md-02187, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, Charleston Division).
“The Court’s Order indicates that the litigation continues to move forward and in a more efficient manner,” said Gary Falkowitz, Managing Attorney at Parker Waichman LLP. “The continuing progression of the transvaginal mesh device claims should help bring injured women closer to receiving the compensation they deserve,” Mr. Falkowitz added.
The Order, dated July 30, 2014, followed a stipulation requested by the parties to the MDL in which the Court was petitioned to enter an “evidence preservation protocol order,” for existing and future actions in the litigation. The stated intent is “that all Material that has not previously been analyzed or tested ... be preserved in a manner that permits the Parties equal access to, and analysis of, the Material. The Parties will not interfere with or circumvent the analysis and preservation of Materials by the Facilities to which any of Plaintiffs’ treating physicians have sent or will send the Materials in the usual course of business.” (MDL No. 2187, In Re: C.R. Bard, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, the United States District Court, Southern District or West Virginia; Honorable Joseph R. Goodwin)
Once the pre-trial proceedings, which are detailed in the Order, have been completed, the Court will transfer the cases which had been directly filed back to the appropriate federal district; the lawsuits brought over the C.R. Bard vaginal mesh that were organized by the U.S. Judicial Panel on MDLs in the Southern District of West Virginia will be remanded to their originally filed federal districts. (In re C.R. Bard Inc. Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2187)
Meanwhile, according to a June 30, 2014 Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, C.R. Bard, agreed to a settlement of more than 500 of the Avaulta transvaginal mesh lawsuits that were pending against the firm. A settlement amount was not disclosed at the time of the SEC filing. In addition to these cases, the device maker faces thousands of lawsuits nationwide. Most were consolidated as part of the federal MDL centralized before U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin in the Southern District of West Virginia. Nearly 60,000 federally filed MDLs involving transvaginal mesh, including more than 9,000 filed against C.R. Bard, were brought against an array of transvaginal device makers and are pending. The cases are:
- In re: American Medical Systems, Inc., Pelvic Repair Systems Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2325)
- In re: Boston Scientific Corp., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2326)
- In re: Coloplast Corp. Pelvic Support System Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2387)
- In re: Cook Medical, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2440)
- In re: C.R. Bard Inc. Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2187)
- In re: Ethicon, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2327)
- In re: Neomedic Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation (MDL 2511)
The lawsuits brought against C.R. Bard over its Avaulta transvaginal mesh, as well as actions brought against other transvaginal mesh manufacturers, all similarly allege significant injuries following surgery that utilized vaginal mesh to repair pelvic organ prolapse (POP) or stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in women. These women also similarly allege that the devices are defective and provide an unnecessary risk of injury, according to Parker Waichman LLP, which has filed a number of lawsuits in the various MDLs being overseen by Judge Goodwin, including against Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of Ethicon; AMS; and Boston Scientific.
“We represent many women who have filed lawsuits over alleged injuries associated with transvaginal mesh and continue to provide free legal advice for anyone who seeks more information about their rights,” Mr. Falkowitz noted.
Parker Waichman LLP continues to offer free lawsuit consultations to victims of transvaginal mesh, pelvic mesh, and vaginal implant injuries. If you or a loved one experienced complications following mesh-related surgery for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) or stress urinary incontinence (SUI), please visit the firm's transvaginal mesh injury page at yourlawyer.com. Free case evaluations are also available by calling 1-800-LAW-INFO (1-800-529-4636).