Runner v. Bard

108 F. Supp. 3d 261, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72174, 2015 WL 3513424
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 3, 2015
DocketCivil Action No. 14-5259
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 108 F. Supp. 3d 261 (Runner v. Bard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Runner v. Bard, 108 F. Supp. 3d 261, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72174, 2015 WL 3513424 (E.D. Pa. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

DALZELL, District Judge.

The defendants seek dismissal of Joseph Runner’s nine-count lawsuit arising from injuries he allegedly sustained following the implantation during surgery of a Bard Composix L/P Mesh (hereinafter, the “Product” or “mesh product”). For the reasons set forth below, we will grant the defendants’ motion in part and deny it in part.

We have jurisdiction to consider the defendants’ motion pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332, as the plaintiff is a Pennsylvania resident, defendant C.R. Bard, Inc. (“Bard”) is a corporation, with its principal place of business in New Jersey, and defendant Davol, Inc. (“Davol”) is a corporation with its principal place of business in Rhode Island. Complaint at ¶¶ 1-3.

I. Legal Standard

A defendant moving to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) bears the burden of proving that a plaintiff has failed to state a claim for relief, see Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6); see also, e.g., Hedges v. United States, 404 F.3d 744, 750 (3d Cir.2005). A Rule 12(b)(6) motion tests the sufficiency of the allegations contained in the complaint and “[t]he question, then, is whether the facts alleged in the complaint, even if true, fail to support the claim.” Kost v. Kozakiewicz, 1 F.3d 176, 183 (3d Cir.1993) (internal citation and quotation marks omitted). As the Supreme Court held in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009), in order to survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face’,” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955). A claim is plausible “when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged,” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

Our Court of Appeals requires district courts considering a motion to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) to engage in a two-part analysis:

First, the factual and legal elements of a claim should be separated. The district [264]*264court must accept all of the complaint’s well-pleaded facts as true, but may disregard any legal conclusions. Second, a district court must then determine whether the facts alleged in the complaint are sufficient to show that the plaintiff has a ‘plausible claim for relief.’

Fowler v. UPMC Shadyside, 578 F.3d 203, 210-11 (3d Cir.2009) (quoting Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937).

In deciding a motion to dismiss, all well-pleaded allegations of the complaint must be taken as true and interpreted in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and all inferences must be drawn in her favor. See McTernan v. City of York, PA., 577 F.3d 521, 526 (3d Cir.2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). To survive a motion to dismiss, a plaintiff must allege facts that “raise a right to relief above the speculative level on the assumption that the allegations in the complaint are true (even if doubtful in fact).” Victaulic Co. v. Tieman, 499 F.3d 227, 234 (3d Cir.2007) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955).

II. Factual And Procedural Background

We take our recital of the facts from Runner’s September 12, 2014 complaint.

Runner alleges that Dr. Luca Giordani implanted the mesh product in him on or about October 9, 2012 at Aria Health in Philadelphia. Complaint at ¶ 18. The lot number of the mesh product was HUWF0422 and its model number was 0134450. Id. Such products are used in hernia repair surgeries where the mesh product is used to patch or repair weaknesses in a patient’s abdominal wall. Id. at ¶ 12. Runner alleges the defendants make mesh products with common features and uses which combine two so-called biomaterials into a single product. Id. at ¶ 13. He also alleges that both defendants have been aware of problems with the mesh products since 2000. Id. at ¶ 14. In December of 2005, the defendants issued a Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) Class I recall for several lots of the mesh product and have since recalled additional lots, products, shapes and sizes. Id. at ¶ 15. As a result, he alleges, the defendants had reason to know their mesh products were not safe and, because of their design and manufacture, could cause physical injury, but they failed to disclose that information. Id. at ¶¶ 16, 17. That failure, the plaintiff contends, prevented him and his medical providers from making informed choices about using the mesh product. Id. at ¶ 17.

Runner states that his injuries from the mesh product implantation include chronic pain and RSD1 which require ongoing treatment. Id. at ¶ 19.

The defendants filed their motion to dismiss on December 12, 2014. In his response to their motion, the plaintiff stated that this matter should be transferred to Rhode Island and consolidated with the multidistrict litigation pending against the defendants in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, In re Kugel Mesh Hernia Patch Products Liability Litigation, MDL Docket No. 07-1842-ML (“Kugel MDL”). On March 6, 2015, we ordered the parties to show cause why they have not moved for transfer to that Court or to stay the proceeding before us. The defendants responded on March 19, 2015 that Bard had taken no [265]*265action to transfer this matter to the Kugel MDL because the MDL court has stopped accepting new transfers. Defs. Resp. at 1. That same day the plaintiff, rather than respond to this Court’s Order, filed a Notice of Tag Along Action to the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, requesting the MDL Panel to consider his case part of the Kugel MDL class action pending against the defendants. Not. of Filing at 1. On March 24, 2015, the plaintiff received notice that notification of potential tag along actions had been suspended in the Kugel MDL, which he failed to disclose to us.

The action thus remains before us.

III. Discussion

A. Plaintiff’s Strict Liability Claims For Design And Manufacturing Defects And Failure To Warn

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108 F. Supp. 3d 261, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72174, 2015 WL 3513424, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/runner-v-bard-paed-2015.