IVC filter lawyers have been hard at work, as discovery deadlines have been set in the IVC filter multidistrict litigation (MDL) No. 2641.

According to the Dec. 22, 2016 court order, the final selection of the first Bard IVC filter bellwether group has been scheduled for late April 2017.

The first Bard IVC filter bellwether lawsuits are set to go to trial at the beginning of fall of 2017.

There are currently hundreds of IVC filter lawsuits pending in the U.S. District Court in Arizona, each of which allege the Bard IVC filters had high rates of fracture, migration and tilting out of place.

After years of litigation, IVC filter lawyers will finally be able to send selected bellwether cases to court.

Overview of IVC Filter Litigation

C.R. Bard is one of the several companies facing legal action for their IVC (inferior vena cava) filter products, which injured plaintiffs allege are poorly made.

According to the allegations, the IVC filter models in question had either tilted or migrated out of place or had broken apart while inside the vein.

This led many patients to have revision surgery who were also at risk for life-threatening injuries. According to U. S. District Judge David G. Campbell’s Case Management Order No. 20, deadlines have been established for fact discovery.

The fact discovery process will begin on Jan. 05, 2016, with the deadline to depose the entire first discovery group by Feb. 16, 2017. By April 17, 2017 both sides will each exchange a list of six potential lawsuits from the pool of the first discovery group, as well as the proposed order of the trials.

If the IVC filter lawyers cannot get the parties to agree on the final six bellwether cases that will go to trial, Judge Campbell will select the trial group sometime after April 28, 2017.

The first bellwether trial is set to begin in the fall of 2017, while the other bellwether trials may also be able to go to trial before the end of 2017.

With the deadlines established, IVC filter lawyers will be busy during the ongoing litigation. While the outcome of bellwether trials will not determine the outcome of future IVC filter lawsuits, they are often used as indicators of how other cases may go over at trial.

Bellwether cases are chosen from a pool of pending lawsuits, to which both parties have to agree. These cases can be be used to determine how juries may react to certain evidence and testimonies, and can be used to help come to a settlement.

IVC filter lawyers are still reaching out to patients who may have suffered complications related to Bard IVC filters or other companies.