Failure-To-Warn, Punitive Damages Claims to Proceed Against Bard in Transvaginal Mesh Case

CHARLESTON, W. Va. — The learned intermediary doctrine defeats a breach of express warranty claim asserted against Bard in a transvaginal mesh multidistrict litigation case because the claim is essentially a repackaged failure-to-warn claim, a West Virginia federal judge has ruled.

However, in the Feb. 5 order, Judge Joseph R. Goodwin of the U.S. District Court for the District of West Virginia, denied Bard’s motion for summary judgment as to the plaintiff’s failure-to-warn claim, noting the plaintiffs have pointed to numerous instances where the implanting surgeon stated that he would not have used the Avaulta Plus system had he known …