A federal judge recently trimmed claims in the bellwether trial of a multidistrict litigation regarding Atrium hernia mesh complications.

U.S. District Judge Landaya B. McCafferty recently dismissed claims under Kansas product liability law and certain breach of implied warranty claims in a hernia mesh complications lawsuit filed by plaintiff Joseph S. Defendant Atrium Medical Corp. previously requested that these claims be dismissed.

Although Judge McCafferty agrees to dismiss two counts from the hernia mesh lawsuit, other claims in the complaint were allowed to proceed. The court determined that Joseph’s claims were allowed to stay due to the fact that he was unaware of the allegedly defective nature of the mesh until 2014, meaning that he was within statutes of limitations when he filed his lawsuit in 2017.

Joseph reportedly had hernia mesh repair surgery in 2010 and was implanted with Atrium’s C-QUR mesh. Four years later, he allegedly experienced a hernia recurrence. When doctors investigated the issue, they reportedly discovered that the hernia mesh had detached from Joseph’s abdominal wall and had formed into a ball in his abdomen. Joseph claims that this was due to the mesh’s defect nature which was unwarned by the mesh manufacturer.

Joseph’s case is serving as a bellwether trial in a sprawling multidistrict litigation. An MDL is a group of lawsuits about essentially the same issues, brought together to be heard by a single court.

A bellwether trial serves as a sort of test case in large MDLs. These cases are the first to go to trial in a multidistrict litigation and help plaintiffs and defendants determine which legal arguments will work. General trends on verdicts and answers to common questions will be established through bellwether trials which can help inform future judicial decisions.

These trials allow attorneys to prepare for future trials, help judges stay consistent on rulings, and can even inform defendants whether they should settle the cases against them rather than continue with trials for all of the pending lawsuits.

In dozens of these lawsuits, Atrium Medical Corp. faces allegations that their C-QUR mesh products are prone to complications. A variety of hernia mesh complications are possible with these and similar products, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Guidance from the agency notes that the following complications are possible with hernia mesh products:

• Pain
• Infection
• Bleeding
• Hernia recurrence
• Adhesion (scar tissue that sticks other tissues and the mesh together)
• Obstruction (blockages of the large or small intestines)
• Fistula (abnormal connections between organs, blood vessels, or parts of the intestine)
• Seroma (fluid build up around surgical site)
• Perforation (holes in tissues or organs near the mesh products)
• Contraction (mesh shrinkage)
• Migration (movement of mesh from its original location to another place in the body)

Plaintiffs claim Atrium failed to warn consumers of these potential complications and failed to design a hernia mesh product that would not be prone to these painful and potentially dangerous problems.

The Hernia Mesh Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-00741 and is part of the Hernia Mesh MDL, In re: Atrium Medical Corp. C-QUR Mesh Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 1:16-md-02753, both in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire.