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The 2026 trials will focus on injuries caused by infection, thrombosis, and fracture. Lanier Law Firm founder Mark Lanier plans to try one of the bellwether cases.

The parties are currently engaged in motion practice. Defendants elected not to file common-issue motions for summary judgment, but both sides filed numerous expert challenges. Case-specific motions, focused specifically on bellwether trials, will be filed in October.

August 6, 2025 – Rebecca Phillips, Co-Lead Counsel on the Bard PowerPort litigation, provided the following: “On August 4, Plaintiffs served case-specific expert reports for bellwether cases. Common-issue expert depositions and case-specific fact witness depositions remain ongoing. Motions for summary judgment and expert challenges are expected later this month.”

May 14, 2025 – The Court has selected six bellwether cases for trial in 2026. The Court also selected one alternate case, should one of the other six cases be resolved before trial. Of the seven cases, three are infection injuries, two are thrombus/occlusion injuries, and two, including the alternate, are fracture injuries. This selection will be followed by a short period of additional discovery and submission of case-specific expert reports, and briefing on summary judgment and expert challenges begins in the fall.

May 7, 2025 – General and case-specific discovery for Bellwether Group 1 has closed, and the parties will submit briefing today about which six cases should move forward as bellwethers. After the Court decides that issue, additional case-specific discovery may continue. The parties are also in the process of exchanging expert reports, rebuttals, and beginning expert depositions.

April 9, 2025 – Plaintiffs served their general expert reports on March 14, 2025. Plaintiffs disclosed a dozen experts who support Plaintiffs’ claims that Defendants’ port catheters are defective: Michael Beatrice, PhD; Bernard Camins, MD; Ahmed El-Ghannam, PhD; Darren Hurst, MD; William Jarvis, MD, Madris Kinard, MBA; Deborah Leckband PhD; Brian McVerry, PhD; Buddy Ratner, PhD; Amir Sheikhi, PhD; Becky Smith, MD; and Jeffrey Weinstein, MD.

The parties have completed general discovery and are winding up case-specific discovery for bellwether selection. At the last status conference, per Defendants’ request, the Court moved the deadline for the parties to agree on six bellwether cases or to submit opposing briefing about representative cases to April 28. The next conference is set for May 1.

January 16, 2025 – Discovery continues, and depositions are ongoing. This month, depositions of 15 potential bellwether plaintiffs will begin, followed soon after by treating physicians. These depositions are intended to help the parties narrow the bellwether pool from 15 cases down to 6 cases that will be tried in early 2026.

In December, the parties could not reach agreement over topics for corporate representative deposition, and the Court issued an order to govern the issue. The next hearing is set for today, January 16, 2025, and the parties are expected to argue over Defendants’ withholding of non-privileged evidence. Plaintiffs have already been successful in getting Defendants to release such evidence through the course of earlier disputes.

October 17, 2024 – The Court held a hearing on October 3 to discuss the progress of discovery. The parties argued regarding Defendants’ claimed privileges and redactions of evidence and regarding a potential, short extension of the discovery schedule due to Defendants late production of documents and continual moving back of witness deposition dates. The Court ordered more briefing on the issues. The parties also argued about evidence regarding the materials out of which Defendants’ catheters are made, and the Court determined that, if in the future Plaintiffs discovery that Defendants have withheld information, they may re-approach the Court regarding an appropriate sanction.

Meanwhile, depositions continue. Co-lead counsel, LLF attorney Rebecca Phillips, said that, while witness testimony cannot yet be made public, “Our team is doing good work in there.”

September 16, 2024 – Discovery continues, and depositions of Defendants’ witnesses have begun. The Court held a conference with the parties on August 16, 2024, to discuss the status of the case and ongoing discovery issues. The biggest issue was that, from the start of discovery, Defendants have opposed Plaintiffs’ discovery into the corporate relationship between Bard and BD for the purpose of proving successor liability. The Court – for a second time – rejected the Defendants argument. Unless the parties are able to reach an agreed stipulation on the relationship between Bard and BD, Plaintiffs’ successor liability discovery will continue.

Another hearing is scheduled for October, and at the last status conference, our own Rebecca Phillips who is on the leadership team for this litigation, told the Court that it may anticipate an argument about evidence that Defendants are withholding as privileged.

June 11, 2024 – The Court held another status conference with the parties on May 24, 2024 to receive an update on continued discovery issues. At present, the parties remain on track with the production of evidence so that depositions can begin in August of 2024. According to co-lead counsel, Rebecca Phillips, an attorney at the Lanier Law Firm, “It is important to get these cases to trial as quickly as we reasonably can. Since many of our clients are very ill, they can’t see justice soon enough.”

May 7, 2024 – The parties are scheduled to appear before the MDL Court again on May 10 to discuss ongoing discovery issues, including whether the parties are on track to meet current discovery deadlines.  At present, the parties continue to engage in the discovery process of identifying relevant witnesses and documents for production.  Depositions of those witnesses are still scheduled to begin in August of this year.

April 22, 2024 – The bellwether pool closed on April 1, with bellwethers to be selected in the coming months.  The parties continue to work through general discovery issues, and depositions are set to begin in August of this year.

March 8, 2024 – The Court held a case management conference on March 1, 2024, during which the Defendants argued to severely restrict the discovery that the Plaintiffs may conduct. The Defendants were unsuccessful. The parties will meet with the Court again on March 29, 2024, to discuss the progress of discovery.

February 2. 2024 – Discovery is ongoing, and the parties are due back in court in Phoenix on March 1, 2024.  At that time, the parties will report their progress in discovery and raise any discovery disagreements with Judge Campbell.  The judge has also asked that the parties finalize a preservation order that would apply to port devices that are explanted because of injury.