C.R. Bard will not receive a retrial for a $4 million verdict to a plaintiff in a product liability case. The lawsuit, which the plaintiff won, revolved around the Vena Cava filter. The lawsuit claims that the filter is inferior.

Sherr-Una Booked filed the suit after having a G2 IVC filter implanted in June 2007. The filter was implanted to mitigate the woman’s risk of suffering from pulmonary embolism. The filter would penetrate the IVC’s wall by 2014, tilt and fracture. The woman’s tricuspid valve was damaged when doctors performed surgery to remove the filter in July 2014.

Open surgical repair was required, but even then, surgeons couldn’t remove one of the struts, which fractured in the woman. Documents claim that the strut still remains in Booker’s IVC wall.

Booker’s lawsuit, filed in 2016, alleges that the G2 device is more dangerous than competing IVC filters. She claims that the company failed to warn doctors and patients about the risks that the filters pose. Jurors found Bard liable for failure to warn in March, awarding Booker $2 million in punitive damages and $1.6 million in compensatory damages.

Bard contended that the evidence was insufficient and sought a new trial.

U.S. District Court of Arizona Judge David Campbell found that Booker sufficiently proved her case.

Campbell cited 10 reports that came out just two months after the G2 launched. The documents found that the filter’s design is less resistant to caudal migration and that the complication could lead to fracture, perforation or tilting. The documents come from an internal analysis of the filter.

The Judge claims that there’s evidence that Bard knew that their filters had a higher risk of failure and complications that exceed the risk of other filters.

Bard is facing class action level lawsuits, with over 4,000 lawsuits filed against the company. The company is facing 3,800 lawsuits in Arizona alone.

Campbell further clarified his reasoning for letting the verdict stand, justifying the $2 million in punitive damages awarded. Campbell claims that the company knew of the greater risks of harm, but that the company chose to downplay the risks to doctors and patients.

The Judge found that the verdict was not inconsistent, as Bard claims.

C.R. Bard won a case in May that involves the company’s Eclipse IVC filter. The case is the second bellwether trial that the company faced. The FDA sent out warning in 2014 warning that temporary blood clot filters need to be removed within 29 – 54 days of implantation.

Christian Reynolds

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Christian is the chief reporter, editor, and webmaster at Cleveland Leader. An aspiring news anchor, his hobbies outside of investigative reporting are golf, martinis, and adventure travel. If you have a scoop on any developing story, please contact him on this page.

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Christian Reynolds

Christian is the chief reporter, editor, and webmaster at Cleveland Leader. An aspiring news anchor, his hobbies outside of investigative reporting are golf, martinis, and adventure travel. If you have a scoop on any developing story, please contact him on this page.

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