The federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation over Cook IVC filters has refused to establish separate processes for determining compensatory and punitive damages in the first few IVC filter lawsuits to go to trial.

The decision will influence the development of evidence and determination of damages in a small selection of cases intended to serve as barometers of how most of the approximately 200 IVC filter lawsuits in the MDL would play out if they were to go to trial.

The outcome of these “bellwether” cases, while not binding on the other claims, would strongly influence whether and how the other cases could be resolved via negotiation and settlement.

The bellwether cases are going through case-specific discovery prior to the first few trials scheduled for September 2016. Last August, defendant Cook Medical asked the court to establish a separate phase of discovery and hearings for determining punitive damages, as opposed to compensatory damages.

In denying that request, District Judge Tim A. Baker said Cook had not provided a good reason to establish separate discovery processes. Also, while Cook had identified the evidence it wanted to reserve for a later discovery process as some of its internal financial information, Judge Baker said that Cook had failed to identify that evidence with enough specificity.

Judge Baker similarly found no advantage in setting up separate trials and therefore denied that request as well.

Punitive damages are a type of damage award intended to punish a defendant in cases in which its conduct was particularly blameworthy. They can be a much larger award than compensatory damages, which compensate the plaintiff for his or her losses. The availability of punitive damages can considerably raise the stakes of large-scale products liability litigation such as the Cook IVC filter lawsuits.

The Cook IVC Filter MDL

This multidistrict litigation, or MDL, is a collection of hundreds of federal IVC filter lawsuits alleging defects in medical devices made by Cook Medical Inc.

An IVC filter, or inferior vena cava filter, is a small cone-shaped device used to catch blood clots and prevent them from migrating to the heart or lungs, where they can cause a pulmonary embolism. It’s used in patients who are at risk for pulmonary embolism but for whom anticoagulant medications are not a good idea.

Generally, the plaintiffs in the Cook IVC filter MDL are alleging the defendants defectively designed their IVC filters, misrepresented them in marketing, and failed to warn doctors and patients about the risks of IVC filter complications.

Plaintiffs variously allege that these IVC filters may, for example, migrate out of their implanted position, puncture the inferior vena cava, or fracture into pieces that migrate to the heart or lungs.

According to the MDL’s short-form complaint, the devices at issue in this MDL are the Cook Celect IVC filter, the Gunther Tulip IVC filter (including the MRI-compatible version), and the Cook Celect Platinum IVC filter. Other filters may be also implicated on a case-by-case basis.

The Cook IVC filter MDL is MDL No. 2570 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.