On October 30, 2026, a federal jury in Phoenix ruled for C.R. Bard in the third bellwether trial over its implanted port catheters, the small devices placed under the skin of the chest or arm to deliver chemotherapy and other medicines. The verdict means Bard has now prevailed in two of the three bellwether trials held so far, though the first jury could not agree on one key claim. The other trial ended in a $40 million verdict for a patient.
The case, Lattanzio v. Becton, Dickinson and Company, was brought by May Lattanzio, a Florida woman who received a Bard PowerPort with a silicone catheter in August 2013. Her lawsuit alleged that the port caused a staph bloodstream infection and that the device had to be removed in December 2013, about four months after it was implanted. She claimed the port was defectively designed, that Bard did not adequately warn doctors about the risk of infection, and that the company misrepresented or concealed information about the device. The trial began on October 13, 2026. The jury’s findings on each claim have not been made public.
Before trial, on September 25, 2026, the court denied Bard’s request to end the case without a trial and refused to throw it out on the ground that it was filed too late. That ruling allowed the jury to hear the case.
What a bellwether trial is
The Lattanzio case is one of thousands of Bard port lawsuits gathered in a federal multidistrict litigation, or MDL. An MDL brings similar cases from around the country before one judge so that evidence gathering and pretrial rulings happen once instead of in every courtroom. This MDL, In re Bard Implanted Port Catheter Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 3081), is in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona before Judge David G. Campbell. As of the November 2, 2026 report of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, 4,345 cases were pending.
A bellwether is an early test trial of one individual case, chosen to represent a larger group of claims. Each verdict decides only that patient’s case, but the results help both sides understand how juries react to the evidence and can shape later settlement talks.
What the lawsuits claim
The lawsuits against Bard and its parent company, Becton, Dickinson and Company, allege that the catheters attached to Bard ports contain too much barium sulfate, a substance added so the catheter shows up on X-rays, and that this weakens the catheter material. Plaintiffs allege this can lead to cracks or fractures, infections and blood clots, and that pieces of a broken catheter can travel through the bloodstream to the heart or lungs. Bard denies that its devices are defective.
The earlier trials
The first bellwether, brought by Robert Cook, a cancer patient who said his port caused a serious infection, ended in May 2026. The jury found that Bard had adequately warned of the device’s risks, but it could not agree on whether the port was defectively designed. Cook has asked the court for a new trial.
In the second trial, a jury on September 4, 2026 awarded $40 million in compensatory damages to Kimberly Divelbliss, a New Mexico woman whose catheter fractured and sent a fragment into her heart. The jury did not award punitive damages. Bard has asked the court for a new trial in that case.
Both trials so far that involved infections have ended without an award for the patient. The only verdict for a patient came in a case where the catheter broke apart inside the body.
What comes next
The fourth bellwether, Hicks v. Becton, Dickinson and Company, is scheduled to begin December 1, 2026. It involves a Missouri woman who received a Bard X-Port with a polyurethane catheter during breast cancer treatment and alleges the device became blocked by blood clots and had to be surgically removed. On October 26, 2026, the court denied Bard’s request to decide that case without a trial. Another bellwether trial is scheduled for February 2, 2027.
No global settlement of the Bard port lawsuits has been announced.
Doyle APC currently represents clients nationwide in Bard PowerPort lawsuits.