The mass tort against C.R. Bard (NYSE:BCR) is about to generate an avalanche of paper after a federal judge ordered the plaintiffs and Bard to choose some 200 lawsuits for discovery.
Each side can select 100 cases for discovery from the nearly 7,000 product liability lawsuits Bard is facing in the multi-district litigation over its recalled Avaulta implants, according to court documents. The Avaulta devices were designed to treat female urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.
Judge Joseph Goodwin of the U.S. District Court for Southern West Virginia ordered the discovery workup Jan. 16 "so that I may ready these cases to be tried," according to the documents.
The ruling means a spate of depositions and motions are in store for the principals in the cases and for expert witnesses for each side.
A raft of medical device companies including Bard, Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), Endo Health Solutions‘s (NSDQ:ENDP) American Medical Systems subsidiary, Cook Medical and Johnson & Johnson‘s (NYSE:JNJ) Ethicon subsidiary, are facing many thousands of lawsuits over their respective mesh offerings.
A bellwether trial in Bard’s MDL that was set to begin this month was postponed after the urgent hospitalization of the wife of a key witness.
