Yates v. C R Bard Incorporated

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedOctober 17, 2019
Docket2:15-cv-02380
StatusUnknown

This text of Yates v. C R Bard Incorporated (Yates v. C R Bard Incorporated) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yates v. C R Bard Incorporated, (D. Ariz. 2019).

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 IN RE: Bard IVC Filters Products No. MDL 15-02641-PHX-DGC Liability Litigation, 10 SUGGESTION OF REMAND AND 11 TRANSFER ORDER (SECOND) 12 13 14 This multidistrict litigation proceeding (“MDL”) involves personal injury cases 15 brought against Defendants C. R. Bard, Inc. and Bard Peripheral Vascular, Inc. 16 (collectively, “Bard”). Bard manufactures and markets medical devices, including 17 inferior vena cava (“IVC”) filters. The MDL Plaintiffs have received implants of Bard 18 IVC filters and claim they are defective and have caused Plaintiffs to suffer serious injury 19 or death. 20 The MDL was transferred to this Court in August 2015 when 22 cases had been 21 filed. Doc. 1. More than 8,000 cases had been filed when the MDL closed on May 31, 22 2019. Docs. 18079, 18128. Thousands of cases pending in the MDL have settled in 23 principle or are near settlement. See Docs. 16343, 19445, 19798. The remaining cases 24 no longer benefit from centralized proceedings. 25 On August 20, 2019, the Court suggested the remand of 35 cases that were 26 transferred to this MDL by the United States Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation 27 (the “Panel”). Doc. 19899 at 2-3, 34-35. The Court transferred more than 500 cases that 28 were directly filed in the MDL to appropriate districts. Id. at 3-6, 36-59. 1 In updated reports on the settlement status of cases, the parties identify more than 2 300 cases that are no longer likely to settle. Docs. 20061, 20623. An additional 100 3 cases that were recently served on Defendants are also unlikely to settle. Doc. 20209. 4 These cases are now subject to remand or transfer. 5 The case listed on Schedule A should be remanded to the transferor court pursuant 6 to 28 U.S.C. § 1407(a). See Doc. 20061-1. The Court therefore provides this Suggestion 7 of Remand to the Panel. The cases listed on Schedule B, which were directly filed in this 8 MDL, will be transferred to appropriate districts pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). See 9 Docs. 20061-2, 20209-2, 20623 at 2. To assist the courts that receive these cases, this 10 order will describe events that have taken place in the MDL. A copy of this order, along 11 with the case files and materials, will be available to courts after remand or transfer. The 12 two cases listed on Schedule C will be unconsolidated from the MDL and will remain in 13 the District of Arizona. 14 I. Suggestion of Remand. 15 A. Remand Standard. 16 The power to remand MDL cases rests solely with the Panel. 28 U.S.C. § 1407(a); 17 see Lexecon Inc. v. Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, 523 U.S. 26, 28 (1998). 18 The Panel typically relies on the transferee court to suggest when remand is appropriate. 19 See J.P.M.L. Rule 10.1(b)(i); In re Motor Fuel Temperature Sales Practices Litig., 20 No. 07-MD-1840-KHV, 2012 WL 1963350, at *1 (D. Kan. May 30, 2012). Indeed, the 21 Panel “is reluctant to order a remand absent the suggestion of the transferee judge[.]” 22 J.P.M.L. Rule 10.3(a); see In re Regions Morgan Keegan Sec., Derivative & ERISA 23 Litig., No. 2:09-md-2009-SHM, 2013 WL 5614285, at *2 (W.D. Tenn. Feb. 28, 2013). 24 The transferee court may suggest remand when a case is “ready for trial, or . . . would no 25 longer benefit from inclusion in the coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings.” 26 In re Multi-Piece Rim Prods. Liab. Litig., 464 F. Supp. 969, 975 (J.P.M.L. 1979); see 27 In re TMJ Implants Prods. Liab. Litig., 872 F. Supp. 1019, 1038 (D. Minn. 1995). 28

2 1 B. The Panel Should Remand the Case Listed on Schedule A. 2 The primary purposes of this MDL – coordinated pretrial discovery and resolution 3 of common issues – have been fulfilled. All common fact and expert discovery has been 4 completed. The Court has also resolved many Daubert motions and Defendants’ 5 summary judgment motion based on preemption, as well as other summary judgment and 6 in limine motions in the bellwether cases. Three bellwether jury trials were held, and the 7 parties prepared for a fourth that settled on the eve of trial. 8 The MDL case listed on Schedule A is not likely to settle soon and no longer 9 benefits from centralized proceedings. The remaining case-specific issues are best left to 10 the transferor court to resolve. The Court therefore suggests that the Panel remand the 11 case on Schedule A to the transferor court – the Southern District of Indiana – for further 12 proceedings. See Doc. 20061-1; In re TMJ Implants, 872 F. Supp. at 1038 (suggesting 13 remand of cases that no longer benefited from consolidated pretrial proceedings). 14 II. Transfer Under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). 15 A. Transfer Standard. 16 Section 1404(a) provides that “[f]or the convenience of parties and witnesses, in 17 the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or 18 division where it might have been brought or to any district or division to which all 19 parties have consented.” 20 B. The Direct-Filed Cases Listed on Schedule B Will Be Transferred. 21 Not all MDL cases were transferred to the Court by the Panel. Pursuant to Case 22 Management Order No. 4 (“CMO 4”), many cases were filed directly in the MDL 23 through use of a short form complaint. Doc. 363 at 3 (as amended by Docs. 1108, 1485). 24 Plaintiffs were required to identify in the short form complaint the district where venue 25 would be proper absent direct filing in the MDL. See id. at 7. CMO 4 provides that, 26 upon the MDL’s closure, each pending direct-filed case shall be transferred to the district 27 identified in the short form complaint. Id. at 3. 28

3 1 Pursuant to § 1404(a), the Court will transfer the cases listed on Schedule B to the 2 districts identified in the short form complaints. See Doc. 20061-2; In re Biomet M2a 3 Magnum Hip Implant Prods. Liab. Litig., No. 3:12-MD-2391, 2018 WL 7683307, at *1 4 (N.D. Ind. Sept. 6, 2018) (transferring cases under § 1404(a) where they would “no 5 longer benefit from centralized proceedings[] and the remaining case-specific issues are 6 best left to decision by the courts that will try the cases”). Defendants’ right to challenge 7 venue and personal jurisdiction upon transfer is preserved. See Doc. 19899 at 4-6. 8 III. The MDL Proceedings. 9 A summary of the MDL proceedings is provided below to assist courts on remand, 10 if ordered by the Panel, and courts receiving transfers under § 1404(a). CMOs, discovery 11 orders, and other significant rulings are listed in Exhibit 1. The status of the remaining 12 case-specific discovery and other pretrial issues in individual cases should be addressed 13 by the courts receiving the cases on remand or transfer. 14 A. Plaintiffs’ Claims and the Pleadings. 15 The IVC is a large vein that returns blood to the heart from the lower body. An 16 IVC filter is a small device implanted in the IVC to catch blood clots before they reach 17 the heart and lungs. This MDL involves multiple versions of Bard’s retrievable IVC 18 filters – the Recovery, G2, G2X, Eclipse, Meridian, and Denali. These filters are 19 umbrella-shaped devices that have multiple limbs fanning out from a cone-shaped head. 20 The limbs consist of legs with hooks that attach to the IVC wall and curved arms to catch 21 or break up blood clots.

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Related

Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr
518 U.S. 470 (Supreme Court, 1996)
In Re TMJ Implants Products Liability Litigation
872 F. Supp. 1019 (D. Minnesota, 1995)
In Re Multi-Piece Rim Products Liability Litigation
464 F. Supp. 969 (Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, 1979)

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Yates v. C R Bard Incorporated, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yates-v-c-r-bard-incorporated-azd-2019.