Bard PowerPort Attorney

How Our Firm Helps You Find a Bard PowerPort Lawyer for Your Case

The Goldwater Law Firm works with law firm partners nationwide to ensure you have the right attorney managing your case. For more than 20 years, our team has helped the injured get justice. We have a long history of getting results for our clients and understand why you need fair compensation for your care, lost income, and other losses.

We firmly believe that companies should not profit from dangerous and defective products, especially medical devices that can cause serious injuries and death. We refuse to let them continue to hurt people while the money rolls in. Through mass torts like the Bard PowerPort lawsuit, we can help victims win.

It is only natural to be frustrated and angry after your injuries and the challenges you’ve faced. This is why we do what we do. We are here to help you get justice. We have

strategic partnerships with law firms representing plaintiffs in the PowerPort lawsuit across the country. We also have an extensive network of experts working on building these cases with our co-counsels.

Our law firm partners handle these cases based on contingency. We can match you with a firm near you, and you will not pay anything unless they win compensation in your case. Contact us today to learn more.

Understanding the Bard PowerPort Lawsuit and Why You Want a Lawyer On Your Side

The Bard PowerPort mass tort is based on injuries and complications that occurred because of the failure of a Bard PowerPort device. This implantable catheter delivers medications such as chemotherapy, fluids, and other intravenous liquids. This means that many people with this type of implant are already facing a dire diagnosis or a chronic condition.

The lawsuits allege that Bard used a brittle material with no protective coating to make the catheters, leaving them prone to cracking and fracturing. This caused injuries and potentially deadly complications. This defective product has been linked to embolisms, damaged organs and healthy tissue, and hemorrhages.

You might be eligible to participate in the mass tort based on these and other injuries if you experienced the following:

• You had a Bard PowerPort catheter implant
• Your implant fractured, migrated, or cracked
• This led to severe injuries, infection, or other significant complications

Many people report requiring surgery or emergency medical care following a PowerPort failure. Others say they developed sepsis or other severe infections due to an increased risk when the catheter cracks or develops fissures.

C.R. Bard, Inc., a subsidiary of Becton, Dickinson and Company, makes the PowerPort catheter implant. It is the defendant in the mass tort, officially titled MDL 3081 IN RE: Bard Implanted Port Catheter Products Liability Litigation.

This case was consolidated into multidistrict litigation (MDL) in August 2023. On  September 3, 2024, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation reported 427 lawsuits in the MDL. It continues to grow each month. It is being heard in the U.S. District Court, District of Arizona, with Sr. District Judge David G. Campbell presiding.

How Your Bard PowerPort Lawyer Can Help You Navigate Multidistrict Litigation

Multidistrict litigation is supposed to offer a better option for everyone involved instead of hundreds or thousands of plaintiffs filing similar claims in the lower courts. With a mass tort, most of the time- and resource-consuming work is done under the oversight of the U.S. District Judge instead of each lower court having to manage many cases based on the same premise.

Some benefits of multidistrict litigation include:

• It frees up the lower courts to hear other cases.
• It allows the plaintiffs to pool their resources and work together to develop a compelling case against a large corporation.
• It prevents the defense from needing dozens of lawyers to manage cases in separate courts and states.

This process consolidates these cases for pretrial motions, discovery, and bellwether trials. This means the parties lay the groundwork for how the case will proceed, investigate the premise of the allegations, exchange evidence, and take several cases before a jury to see how they react to each side’s argument.

Keep You Updated About Your Case’s Progress

This process could take several years from start to finish. If you participate, your Bard PowerPort lawyer will manage your claim and protect your best interests while you heal and return to your everyday activities if possible.

Current Progress in the Bard PowerPort MDL

MDL 3081 is progressing as expected in the Arizona District Court. Sr. District Judge Campbell is no stranger to multidistrict litigation. He has experience overseeing these cases, including a previous case against Bard.

As of September 2024, MDL 3081 is still in pretrial motions and discovery. However, the parties are also moving forward with narrowing down the potential bellwether lawsuits in the case. They recently announced that they are considering a pool of 24 possible cases. They will likely finish this selection process later this year or in early 2025.

Multidistrict litigation does help the legal process move faster and more efficiently, but this does not mean MDLs progress quickly. Each step of this process takes time. Your attorney should keep you updated about the case’s progress while you focus on healing.

Help You Understand the Possible Outcomes of Multidistrict Litigation

While several cases go to trial as bellwether lawsuits in an MDL, their outcome has no direct bearing on the other cases in the mass tort. The verdict only applies in that case. However, when the jury rules on behalf of the plaintiff, this often compels the defendant to consider making a settlement offer. There are three ways settlements usually occur in these cases:

• Individual settlement offers
• Tiered settlement offers based on the type or severity of injury
• Global settlement offers to settle all or most of the lawsuits at one time

When defendants win these cases, plaintiffs may consider dropping their lawsuits.

If there is no settlement or you do not want to accept the settlement offer available to you in your case, you can take your case to trial in your original jurisdiction after the conclusion of the MDL. However, this is rare. Most people accept a settlement offer to close their case.

If it comes to this in your case, your attorney will offer advice and guidance throughout the process. They will ensure you have all the information you need to make an educated decision in your best interests.

Steps Your Bard PowerPort Lawsuit Attorney Will Take to Manage Your Case

Your Bard PowerPort attorney will be a defective product lawyer familiar with multidistrict litigation and cases involving medical device failure. All our law firm partners and co-counsels are experienced and knowledgeable about the laws in their states and how mass torts and MDLs work.

You can expect your attorney to take on your case and manage all aspects of it from the first day. They will gather evidence and documentation to support your claim and then file a lawsuit or short-form complaint to add you to MDL 3081 officially.

They will serve as your connection to the mass tort, providing updates and ensuring you have any information you need about the case. They can answer your Bard PowerPort lawsuit questions or address your concerns. If there are settlement offers, they will represent your best interests and fight for maximum compensation on your behalf.

You can contact your attorney and their office anytime and expect a prompt response from someone knowledgeable about your case. Even when these cases take time, your lawyer will stay on top of the latest developments in the case and how each one could affect your potential payout.

Damages Recoverable When Your Bard PowerPort Lawyer Wins Your Case

As of September 2024, there are no settlement offers in the Bard PowerPort lawsuit. This is not a surprise, as the case is still early in the process. Most settlements occur following one or more bellwether trials. They have not yet selected the bellwether cases or set trial dates on the docket in MDL 3081.

While it is difficult to know the type or possible value of a settlement—if one becomes available—your lawyer can explain the many factors that could affect the size of a settlement offer. This could include:

• Your expenses and losses incurred
• The severity of your injuries and any lasting effects
• The strength of the case against Bard
• If there is evidence Bard was aware of the issue with the PowerPort
• If there are laws that cap certain types of compensation
• How they structure the settlement offer

When your attorney gathers paperwork, expert testimony, and other evidence in your case, they will work to document your recoverable damages related to your catheter failure, injuries, treatment, and lasting concerns. This could include:

• Medical bills
• Future care needs
• Income losses, current and future
• Related expenses
• Pain and suffering and other non-economic damages

Bard has faced similar mass torts before, including one based on inferior vena cava (IVC) filters that fractured and migrated, causing serious injuries. The company settled the cases in that MDL after a jury awarded a plaintiff a massive payout in one of the bellwether trials. The PowerPort lawsuit could have a similar outcome, but that remains to be seen as the case progresses.

Bard is also currently facing scrutiny as the defendant in another mass tort. This multidistrict litigation concerns injuries allegedly caused by dangerous or defective hernia mesh. With more than 24,000 actions pending, this is the third-largest MDL in progress at this time.

How Long Do I Have to Contact an Attorney About My Bard PowerPort Case?

You only have a limited time to file a Bard PowerPort lawsuit or complete the short-form complaint to join MDL 3081. Two factors set a time limit on these cases:

• The statute of limitations in your state, which could be as little as one year from the time your catheter fractured in some states
• When the Bard PowerPort MDL stops accepting new cases

It is in your best interests to act quickly to learn more about your rights and legal options. You do not want to run out of time. Our team can assess your timeline in your case and refer you to a co-counsel near you who can act quickly on your behalf. While MDL 3081 will likely remain open to new plaintiffs for the foreseeable future, you could run out of time based on the deadline set by your state law.

However, statutes of limitations can sometimes be complex. You could have more or less time than you think. You should consult a law firm familiar with these cases to ensure you do not lose out on the opportunity for justice.