8 Reasons why RI is best Place to file a hernia mesh lawsuit against Bard

Rhode Island is likely the most favorable state in the United States to seek justice and compensation against Bard and their corporate subsidiary Davol, as a result of defective hernia mesh. There is currently a consolidated State Court lawsuit for Bard mesh made of Polyproplene in Rhode Island. This hernia mesh lawsuit article was authored by an attorney licensed to practice law in Rhode Island for over 26 years.  A  Rhode Island hernia mesh attorney sets forth the primary reasons why Rhode Island is the best state jurisdiction to pursue justice and compensation against C.R. Bard and their corporate subsidiary, Davol Inc. Please keep in mind that there is ALSO currently a Bard / Davol Multidistrict Litigation pending in Federal Court for the Southern District of Ohio. This Federal litigation, like the State Court proceeding in Rhode Island, is for all Bard mesh comprised of polyproplene hernia mesh.

hernia MESH LAWSUIT

Update- January 10, 2024:

Over 5000 hernia mesh lawsuits have settled in Rhode Island state Court. The Bard settlement amounts are confidential. A certain hernia mesh law firm settled a decent percent of their pending lawsuits.  Many more Bard mesh settlements are expected in the near future. This  hernia mesh settlement and payout was not a global settlement of all the cases pending in state court in RI. There have been no reported settlements in the Federal Court Bard MDL. The settlement of over 5,000 Bard hernia mesh cases fell apart after a  small verdict against Bard in favor of the victim for $255,000 in the federal Court, Ohio MDL. Bard revoked the settlement, asserting that the cases were not worth as much as they had agreed to pay because of the paltry sum awarded by the Ohio Jury. However, Bard reconsidered their decision and reinstated the settlements because a jury in RI state Court awarded a victim 4.7 million dollar verdict against Bard / Davol after a full jury trial.

SCORECARD FOR HERNIA MESH  LAWSUIT VERDICTS:

As of January 2nd, 2024 there have been four test / bellwether Bard hernia mesh lawsuit jury trials across 2 consolidated proceedings. The victims have won three lawsuits and the manufacturer has won one lawsuit. (This scorecard does not include Bard hernia mesh lawsuit jury verdicts in the 2010 time period for the Kugel MDL in  Rhode Island Federal Court) As you can see the only large verdict was in Rhode Island State Court for 4.8 million dollars.

8 reasons to file a Bard Davol hernia mesh lawsuit in RI State Court

1. Update- January 10, 2024  A prominent Rhode Island law firm won a 4.8 million dollar verdict in Rhode Island State Court against Bard Davol. In the Bard consolidated lawsuit in Federal Court in Ohio, the manufacturer won the first trial and the victim won the 2nd trial for a $255,000 verdict. In the 3rd MDL bellwether trial, the hernia mesh victim won a $500,000 verdict in October of 2023 against Bard.
2. Bard and their subsidiary Davol was a Rhode Island Company* headquartered in RI when most of the allegedly defective hernia mesh was manufactured. RI law will likely apply to cases against Bard in Rhode Island State Courts. Rhode Island has laws very favorable to injured victims. Justice Gibney, the prior presiding justice over the Rhode Island litigation, has ruled that RI law applies to cases filed in Rhode Island State Court against Bard. (Justice Gibney retired and a new justice is now in charge of the surgical mesh litigation.)
3. 12 percent prejudgment interest on judgments in RI gives hernia mesh law firms leverage to get big settlements in favor of victims. Also, if a hernia mesh lawsuit culminates in a jury verdict in favor of the victim against Bard, generous prejudgment interest will be automatically tacked onto the judgment by the clerk of the Court. This healthy interest will be detrimental to Bard’s legal interest.
4.  Rhode Island is a very progressive, liberal Northeast State with juries who may be more favorable to injured victims. There was previously a $1.5 million dollar jury verdict against Bard several years ago in Federal Court. This was the only reported jury verdict in favor of a mesh victim prior to the verdicts set forth in the above scorecard.
5. State Court Juries and judges are generally more accommodating to injured victims than Federal Courts which are universally recognized as more conservative and pro-business.
6. The Bard / Davol Cases wer pending before a well regarded and experienced Jurist, Chief Justice Alice Gibney. A new jurist has now taken over the RI bard state court litigation, after Judge Gibney retired.
7. Most importantly, Rhode Island offers a potentially extended statute of limitations. The RI statute of limitations may allow victims to file well after most state statute of limitations expire. (see more details below)
8. Rhode Island Courts will not enforce any statute of repose from other states.
9. It is apparent that Bard is attempting to figurately ‘blow up’ the Federal MDL by refusing to globally settle the federal Bard hernia mesh MDL. Blowing up the MDL would mean that the hernia mesh lawsuits in the Federal MDL would be sent back to the original Federal Courts across the United States. This would mean that thousands of lawsuits would need to be dismissed because of the prohibitive cost of pursuing an individual trial. Because the Rhode Island consolidated lawsuits are not a federal MDL, there is no way to have the cases transferred from Rhode Island. There is no practical way to figuratively ‘blow up’ the RI consolidated state court proceedings, unless there is a global settlement. This makes Rhode Island a better and safer place to file an individual hernia mesh lawsuit.

We are currently reviewing the following types of Bard lawsuits:

Bard/ Davol:

• 3D Max
• Composix
• Composix EX
• Composix Kugel
• Kugel
• Marlex
• Perfix Plug
• Sepramesh
• Sepramesh IP Composite
• Ventralex
• Ventralex ST
• Ventrio
• Ventrio ST
• Visilex

Rhode Island has an extended statute of limitations for defective medical device cases

In a defective medical device case in Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, the 3 year RI statute of limitations does not begin until:

• A “person discovers, or with reasonable diligence should have discovered, the wrongful conduct of the manufacturer… We are convinced, after reviewing the case law and weighing the equitable considerations, that the better view would be to adopt the following rule: in a drug product-liability action where the manifestation of an injury, the cause of that injury, and the person’s knowledge of the wrongdoing by the manufacturer occur at different points in time, the running of the statute of limitations would begin when the person discovers, or with reasonable diligence should have discovered, the wrongful conduct of the manufacturer.”  Anthony v. Abbot Laboratories, 490 A.2d 43 (R.I. 1985)

This means that the statute of limitations in Rhode Island defective for mesh cases could effectively extend many years. Keep in mind, that in most states the statute of limitations for a product liability case is 1-6 years after the victim knew or should have known that the mesh caused his or her injury. Discovering the “wrongful conduct” probably means that the victim both knew what type of mesh was surgically, implanted in them and that the companies’ hernia mesh was defective. This might not occur until a victim sees a hernia mesh advertisement, propagated by a hernia mesh law firm alleging the defect in the mesh. It could also occur if a hernia mesh surgeon informs the mesh victim the type of surgical mesh implanted in their body and that such mesh is defective.

Why victims should consider RI as best forum for a hernia mesh lawsuit

Hundreds of hernia mesh cases against Bard are now pending in Providence Superior Court. The litigation is currently titled: “IN RE: DAVOL/ C.R. BARD HERNIA MESH”  In 2007, the Rhode Island state Courts “set up a multi-case management coordinated proceeding for cases primarily involving Davol /C.R. Bard Composix Kugel Hernia Patch. ”  Bard Procedural order

On August 11, 2009 Justice Gibney, the chief Justice of the Rhode Island Superior Court, issued a decision which stated in pertinent part, “By order of the Presiding Justice, dated March 8, 2007, all filings in Providence County Superior Court alleging personal injuries from Kugel Mesh hernia repair patches were assigned to this Court for multi-case management. (Administrative Order No. 2007-6.) The order authorizes this Court to dispose of any and all pre-trial motions related to this litigation and to preside over trials, should any occur. Id. The order further empowers this Court to “issue special orders for the due administration of these causes of action.” Id.” Justia 

In November 2017, Chief Justice Gibney issued her first procedural order which stated in pertinent part, “While the litigation focused on the Composix Kugel Hernia Patch, some cases involved other Bard hernia products such as the Composix E/X Mesh, Ventralex Hernia Patch, Composix Hernia Patch, Kugel Hernia Patch, CK Parastomal Patch and Modified Kugel Patch.”  Procedural order #1 IN RE: DAVOL/ C.R. BARD HERNIA MESH 

Rhode Island has pre-lawsuit filing interest and post lawsuit interest

Rhode Island has twelve percent interest per year on all judgments. Interest begins to accrue from the date of the tort (accrual of the cause of action) not the date of the filing. If Bard delays and you win a big judgment after a jury trial, you get the generous interest. If you have to wait 6 years to get justice you will get 72 percent interest.  This makes prospective judgments similar to annuities. But, unless your Bernie Madoff you cannot be guaranteed 12 percent in the stock market.

Bard hernia mesh rhode island superior court 

This type of interest gives hernia mesh law firms leverage to get big settlement against the enemy, Bard / Davol.  § 9-21-10. Interest in civil actions. “(a) In any civil action in which a verdict is rendered or a decision made for pecuniary damages, there shall be added by the clerk of the court to the amount of damages interest at the rate of twelve percent (12%) per annum thereon from the date the cause of action accrued, which shall be included in the judgment entered therein. Post-judgment interest shall be calculated at the rate of twelve percent (12%) per annum and accrue on both the principal amount of the judgment and the prejudgment interest entered therein. This section shall not apply until entry of judgment or to any contractual obligation where interest is already provided.”

There is an urban myth among old timers in Rhode Island that Judges and personal injury lawyers were bad at math so 1 percent a month was the easiest way to tack on and figure out interest. Please note that a Rhode Island resident may be able to file in Rhode Island against other mesh manufacturers as well as Bard and get the benefits of the extended statute of limitation as well as RI law.

Rhode Island is a liberal Northeast State- trial attorneys make up a good percentage of the legislature.

The only reported federal hernia mesh jury verdict in the Unites States was for 1.5 million against Bard Davol.  “A jury has awarded $1.5 million to a North Carolina couple injured by allegedly defective hernia patches, but won’t get the chance to impose punitive damages, according to a federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against C.R. Bard Inc. and a subsidiary.  Laura Thorpe taking home $200,000 for loss of consortium.” Law 360 

Allegations against Bard Davol in Rhode Island lawsuits:

• “Defendants’ Hernia Mesh Products are defectively designed and/or manufactured, are not reasonably safe for their intended use in hernia repair, and the risks of the design outweigh any potential benefits associated with the design. As result of the defective design and/or manufacture of their Products, there was an unreasonable risk of severe adverse reactions to the mesh or mesh components, including, but not limited to: chronic pain; recurrence ofhernia; foreign body response; rejection; infection; inadequate or failure of incorporation/ingrowth; migration; scarification; deformation of mesh; improper wound healing; excessive and chronic inflammation; adhesions to internal organs; erosion; abscess; fistula formation; granulomatous response; seroma formation; nerve damage; tissue damage and/or death; and other complications. “MASTER LONG FORM COMPLAINT AND JURY DEMAND, IN RE: DA VOL/ CR. BARD HERNIA MESH-MULTI—CASE MANAGEMENT Coordination N0. 2017-02
• “The Defendants’ Hernia Mesh Products are manufactured from polypropylene that is unsuitable. Defendants’ Polypropylene contains about 15 additional compounds that are leached from the polypropylene and are toxic to tissue, which enhances the inflammatory reaction and the intensity of fibrosis.” Id.
• “Mesh is not inert. It flakes and fissures and this leads to degradation and the release of toxic compounds. This enhances the inflammatory and fibrotic reactions.” Id.
• “The polypropylene material used in the Defendant’s Hernia Mesh Products is unreasonably susceptible to in ViVO oxidative degradation, Which causes or exacerbates excessive inflammation and adverse foreign body reaction, leading to excessive shrinkage, scarification, pain and mesh deformation.’ Id.

The 411 on Providence Superior Court

Phone: 1-401-222-3250

Chief Justice: Alice Gibney Presiding Justice, Rhode Island Superior Court

*Bard is now owned by  BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) “FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., Dec. 29, 2017 – BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, today announced it has completed the acquisition of C. R. Bard, Inc. (NYSE: BCR), creating a new health care industry leader with approximately $16 billion in annualized revenue.” https://www.bd.com/en-us/company/news-and-media/press-releases/dec-29-2017-bd-completes-bard-acquisition-creating-new-global-health-care-leader

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS FOR BD
730 Central Avenue,
Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974 USA

Davol’s headquarters appears to be here:

Davol, a Bard Company

100 Crossings Boulevard
Warwick, RI 02886
800-556-6756