Given common questions raised in the litigation, all of the lawsuits are currently centralized before U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs, who is guiding the parties through coordinated discovery into common issues impacting all claims.
To help promote potential BioZorb recall settlement negotiations, Judge Burroughs previously established a bellwether process, where a small group of representative claims are being prepared for early trial dates to help gauge how juries may respond to evidence and expert testimony that is likely to be repeated throughout the litigation. Each side chose five potential BioZorb bellwether trial candidates in August 2024, as part of an initial discovery pool.
As part of a regular series of status conferences being held throughout the litigation, plaintiffs and defendants submitted a joint report (PDF) on December 3, before a status conference held the next day. According to the report, there are a total of 22 complaints currently pending before Judge Burroughs, but most of them involve multiple plaintiffs. At least 100 different individuals are now pursuing BioZorb claims.
December 2024 BioZorb Lawsuit Update
The parties updated Judge Burroughs on the status of discovery in the 10 bellwether selections, indicating that the cases are proceeding on schedule. Core depositions are expected to be complete by December 16, and each side will then strike three lawsuits from the discovery pool, resulting in four claims that will be eligible for the first trial dates.
Judge Burroughs had ordered the parties to file a case management order by December 19, identifying the four remaining bellwether trial cases and proposing a method for selecting the order in which the cases will go before juries. However, the parties are in disagreement on how to handle the multi-plaintiff complaints, indicating they will file competing proposed case management orders.
“The Parties have met and conferred but were unable to reach agreement on bellwether trial selection and structure. Specifically, Plaintiffs intend to ask the Court for a multi-plaintiff trial comprised of multiple Trial Pool Plaintiffs,” the status report states. “Hologic objects to a multi-plaintiff trial and intends to propose a single-plaintiff trial structure.”
While the outcome of these first trials will not have any binding impact on other lawsuits, they will be closely watched to gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that will be repeated throughout the litigation, and the average lawsuit payout may have a substantial impact on the amounts of BioZorb recall settlements the manufacturer may be forced to pay in the future.