Medical Device Lawsuit News: Hernia Mesh, CPAP, and Paragard

Medical device lawsuit news in mid-2026 is dominated by a handful of litigation tracks hitting turning points at the same time. Hernia mesh payouts from a $1 billion Becton Dickinson settlement are flowing to claimants; the first Paragard IUD bellwether ended in a defense verdict for Teva; a Philips CPAP personal injury deal worth more than $1 billion is awaiting formal approval; Exactech’s bankruptcy has reshaped recovery for hip implant plaintiffs; and new filings are stacking up over Abbott glucose monitors and surgical mesh used in breast reconstruction. What follows is where each of the active cases stands, who is affected, and what to watch next.

Hernia Mesh: Payouts Flowing, First Covidien Trial Underway

Hernia mesh is the single largest category of active medical device litigation, with more than 26,000 cases pending across four federal multidistrict litigations as of early 2026.¹

Becton Dickinson / C.R. Bard

Becton Dickinson agreed in October 2024 to settle roughly 38,000 lawsuits involving C.R. Bard hernia mesh products for more than $1 billion, and payments are being distributed through a Qualified Settlement Fund set up in January 2025.² Payments run on a points-based tier: $2,500 for a documented implant without a qualifying injury, $25,000 for mild-to-moderate complications, and $60,000 to over $100,000 for severe injuries backed by comprehensive records. Projected average payout is between $65,000 and $70,000.³

Even with the global deal, about 23,700 cases remain on the MDL docket in the Southern District of Ohio.¹ In November 2025, Judge Edmund A. Sargus appointed two Special Masters to run an Intensive Settlement Process for unresolved claims. Monthly mediation sessions begin in January 2027, and claimants still unresolved by June 2029 can opt out and return to active litigation.³

Covidien / Medtronic

The Covidien MDL (MDL 3029 in the District of Massachusetts) holds about 2,400 lawsuits, and its first bellwether, Patterson v. Covidien, was underway as of mid-June 2026 with no verdict yet reported.¹ The plaintiff alleges a Symbotex Composite Mesh implanted in 2017 had a porcine collagen barrier that degraded in about seven days, far short of the 30-day duration Covidien marketed, and that the rapid degradation caused a bowel obstruction and hernia recurrence requiring a second surgery. Judge Patti B. Saris denied summary judgment, allowing claims of wanton failure to warn, gross negligence, breach of implied warranty, and fraud to proceed along with a punitive damages claim. Evidence includes a 2003 internal Covidien study showing complete barrier resorption at seven days, with the company’s chief scientist acknowledging the barrier was “not functioning after about a week.”⁴

Ethicon and Atrium

The two smaller hernia mesh MDLs are largely done. Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon subsidiary confidentially settled more than 200 remaining Physiomesh cases in late 2023.¹ Atrium Medical settled its C-Qur mesh litigation in December 2021, reportedly for more than $66 million covering over 3,000 cases.²

Philips CPAP Settlement Awaiting Approval

The recall of millions of Philips Respironics CPAP, BiPAP, and ventilator machines over degrading polyester-based polyurethane sound-abatement foam produced three distinct settlement tracks, consolidated as MDL 3014 in the Western District of Pennsylvania under Judge Joy Flowers Conti. By June 2023, the FDA had received more than 105,000 medical device reports and 385 death reports tied to the degraded foam.⁵

Philips agreed in September 2023 to pay $479 million to settle a class action for economic damages, which received final court approval in April 2024.⁵⁶ A separate $1.075 billion personal injury settlement followed on April 29, 2024, with another $25 million for medical monitoring. That personal injury deal is a private settlement program rather than a court-approved class action, so claimants register and submit claims directly. Philips was scheduled to deposit the funds into a Qualified Settlement Fund by March 2025, provided participation thresholds were met and the company did not exercise its termination rights, which expired in late February 2025.⁷

As of May 2026, the personal injury settlement had not received formal court approval, and 622 personal injury cases remained pending in the MDL. If the settlement doesn’t move forward, bellwether trials for cancer and other serious injury claims could follow. On a separate track, Philips reached a roughly $400 million agreement with the FDA in January 2024 that included a commitment to stop selling CPAP machines in the United States.⁵

Hip and Knee Implants: Exactech Exits Bankruptcy, Aesculap Settles FCA Claims

Most of the largest hip implant cases are resolved or close to it; combined, hip implant lawsuits have generated more than $7.5 billion in settlements since 2002. The active outlier is Exactech, whose polyethylene hip liners were recalled in 2021 for premature wear. With 1,838 cases pending, the litigation was frozen in October 2024 when Exactech and four affiliates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware.⁸ The bankruptcy court confirmed a reorganization plan in September 2025, and the plan was consummated on October 31, 2025, with the company’s assets transferred to new owners.⁹ The revised exit plan establishes a claimant trust to compensate victims, though payouts are expected to fall short of what they would have been if the company had stayed solvent. A proposal by private equity owner TPG Capital to secure liability protection through a $10 million contribution was dropped after creditor opposition.¹⁰

On the knee side, Aesculap Implant Systems paid $38.5 million in November 2025 to resolve False Claims Act allegations that its VEGA Knee System failed prematurely because bone cement did not adhere properly to the implant, causing loosening and pain that often required revision surgery. The company stopped selling knee replacement devices in the U.S. as of April 2024.¹¹

Paragard IUD: First Bellwether Goes to Defense

The Paragard IUD MDL covers more than 3,900 cases consolidated in the Northern District of Georgia under Judge Leigh Martin May. Plaintiffs allege the copper IUD breaks inside patients during removal; the litigation has focused on failure-to-warn claims after design defect claims were dismissed.¹²

The first bellwether trial, Rickard v. Teva Pharmaceuticals, ended on February 4, 2026 with a defense verdict. The jury found Teva not liable on strict liability, failure to warn, defective design, and fraudulent omission claims.¹²¹³ After the verdict, Judge May postponed the second and third bellwethers from spring 2026 to the fall. Plaintiffs’ counsel is spending the summer preparing Daubert motions and strengthening evidence on design defects and warning labels ahead of those trials.

IVC Filters: Bard Closed, Cook in Settlement Talks

The MDL against C.R. Bard over its retrievable IVC filters has officially closed after the company confidentially settled more than 8,000 lawsuits. Individual cases outside the MDL continue to produce results; in June 2021 a Wisconsin jury awarded plaintiff Natalie Johnson $3.3 million, a verdict the Seventh Circuit upheld on appeal in August 2023.¹⁴

Cook Medical’s MDL (No. 2570) remains active in the Southern District of Indiana, with approximately 6,562 cases pending as of May 2026.¹⁴ Court filings from October 2025 indicate the parties agreed on major settlement terms for a group of active cases, and settlement conferences continue.¹⁵

Allergan BIOCELL Breast Implants and Lymphoma Claims

Nearly 1,500 lawsuits are pending in the federal MDL against Allergan, now an AbbVie subsidiary, over textured breast implants linked to breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL). Allergan issued a voluntary worldwide recall of all BIOCELL textured implants and tissue expanders in July 2019, covering more than four million devices; the FDA classified the recall as Class I.¹⁶

As of June 2026, only about 5% of cases have been resolved and no global settlement has been announced. Plaintiffs allege Allergan’s BIOCELL texturing process carries six times the cancer risk of other textured implants and that the company failed to warn of this elevated risk. FDA data through June 2024 showed 1,380 unique BIA-ALCL cases worldwide, with 86% tied to Allergan products and 64 reported deaths.¹⁶ The MDL is before Judge Brian R. Martinotti in the District of New Jersey.¹⁷

Glucose Monitors: FreeStyle Libre Class Action and Dexcom Preemption Ruling

Abbott Laboratories faces both a class action and individual injury lawsuits over its FreeStyle Libre 3 and FreeStyle Libre 3 Plus continuous glucose monitors. The lead class action, Shroff v. Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., was filed in the Northern District of California on January 13, 2026. It alleges a manufacturing defect causes falsely low glucose readings and says Abbott concealed the defect; by November 2025, the complaint states, Abbott had reported 736 serious injuries and seven deaths linked to inaccurate readings.¹⁸ The regulatory backdrop includes a July 2024 Class I recall of certain FreeStyle Libre 3 lots for incorrect high readings, a November 2025 medical device correction covering roughly 3 million sensors for incorrect low readings, and an FDA warning letter issued to Abbott in January 2026 over inspection findings related to performance testing. As of June 2026, no MDL has been formed and no settlements or trial dates have been announced.¹⁹

A separate glucose monitor ruling may have broader consequences for device litigation. In Dickson v. Dexcom Inc., Judge James D. Cain Jr. of the Western District of Louisiana held in 2024 that state-law product liability claims against Dexcom’s G6 continuous glucose monitor were preempted by federal law, because the FDA’s De Novo classification pathway for the G6 established device-specific requirements.²⁰ The ruling is the first to extend express federal preemption to a Class II device authorized through the De Novo pathway, which AI- and machine-learning-enabled device manufacturers use more than three times as often as other device makers.²¹ Legal scholars have noted the decision could limit the ability of injured patients to bring state-court claims against a growing category of advanced medical devices.

Pelvic Mesh Winds Down, Breast Mesh Just Starting

The federal MDLs that once held tens of thousands of transvaginal mesh lawsuits have concluded, and combined pelvic mesh settlements across manufacturers total roughly $8 billion. The FDA banned all transvaginal mesh products intended for pelvic organ prolapse in April 2019. Litigation continues in state courts, where new individual lawsuits are still being filed in 2026, and courts have increasingly dismissed cases that fail to meet discovery deadlines.²²

A newer front involves surgical mesh used in breast reconstruction and augmentation, sometimes called “internal bra” surgeries. The FDA has stated that no surgical mesh product has been cleared or approved for breast surgery, yet products like BD’s GalaFLEX scaffolds and Phasix mesh, originally cleared for general soft-tissue reinforcement, have been widely used in these procedures.²³ In November 2023, the FDA issued a letter to healthcare providers warning that the safety and effectiveness of surgical mesh in breast surgery “has not been determined.”²⁴ As of June 2026, lawsuits have been filed in Rhode Island state court against BD and attorneys are investigating additional claims, with no findings of liability yet.²⁵

Other Active Fronts in 2026

Insulet issued two recalls for Omnipod insulin delivery pods in 2026, one in April for Omnipod 5 Pods and another in June for various Omnipod Pods, both for potential insulin under-delivery issues.²⁶
Pfizer faces 1,300 plaintiffs alleging the company failed to disclose that the injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera carries a risk of brain tumors.²⁶
Bayer resolved the bulk of U.S. Essure litigation in 2020 by agreeing to pay approximately $1.6 billion to settle claims from around 39,000 women who said the permanent contraceptive caused organ damage, bleeding, and chronic pain. The settlement included no admission of liability. An Australian class action brought by more than 1,400 women was dismissed by the Victorian Supreme Court, which found insufficient evidence that Essure caused the claimed injuries.²⁷²⁸

FDA Enforcement Developments That Touch Device Litigation

Several 2025 FDA enforcement actions carry implications for product liability cases. Three former executives of Magellan Diagnostics pleaded guilty in the District of Massachusetts for concealing malfunctions in lead testing devices; the former CEO and COO received sentences of home detention and fines. Kimberly-Clark paid roughly $40.4 million under a deferred prosecution agreement for fraudulently testing MicroCool surgical gowns to avoid FDA premarket notifications. Semler Scientific paid $29.75 million to resolve allegations it marketed diagnostic devices for uses without FDA clearance, and Illumina paid $9.8 million over cybersecurity vulnerabilities in genomic sequencing systems.²⁹

A May 2025 executive order directed federal agencies away from criminal prosecution of strict-liability regulatory offenses and toward civil and administrative enforcement. The DOJ’s Consumer Protection Branch, which previously handled federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act enforcement, was dissolved in 2025, with its functions split between two new units in the Civil and Criminal Divisions.²⁹ The FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health also expanded its recall communications pilot to cover all medical devices as of September 2025, aimed at faster public notification about the most serious recalls.³⁰

1
Drugwatch. Hernia Mesh Lawsuits
2
Sokolove Law. Hernia Mesh Lawsuits
3
LlamaLab.ai. Bard Hernia Mesh Settlement Medical Records Payout Tiers
4
Top Class Actions. Covidien Faces Trial Over Claims Symbotex Hernia Mesh Barrier Degrades Too Quickly
5
Drugwatch. Philips CPAP Lawsuits
6
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. MDL 3014 Re Philips Recalled CPAP Products Litigation
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Respironics PI Settlement. Respironics Personal Injury Settlement Program
8
Drugwatch. Hip Replacement Lawsuits
9
Kroll Restructuring. Exactech Restructuring
10
Miller & Zois. Exactech Implant Lawsuit
11
U.S. Department of Justice. Aesculap Implant Systems Agrees to Pay $38.5M to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations Related to Knee
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Dolman Law. Paragard IUD Lawsuit
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Law360. Teva Wins 1st Paragard IUD Bellwether Trial
14
Consumer Notice. IVC Filter Lawsuits
15
Drugwatch. IVC Filter Lawsuits
16
MDL Update. MDL-2921 Allergan Biocell Breast Implant Lawsuit
17
U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Allergan Biocell Textured Breast Implant Products Liability Litigation
18
ClassAction.org. Shroff v. Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. Complaint
19
Drugwatch. FreeStyle Libre Lawsuit
20
CaseMine. Dickson v. Dexcom Inc.
21
EurekAlert. Recent Caselaw and Liability Risks for Developers and Manufacturers of Medical Artificial Intelligence
22
TorHoerman Law. Vaginal Mesh Lawsuit
23
ClassAction.org. Breast Mesh Internal Bra Lawsuit
24
Motley Rice. Breast Mesh Lawsuit
25
TorHoerman Law. Breast Mesh Lawsuit
26
Top Class Actions. Medical Device Lawsuit Settlements
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Bayer. Bayer Announces Resolution of U.S. Essure Claims
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The Conversation. The Essure Contraceptive Device Left Some Women With Chronic Pelvic Pain
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Ropes & Gray. FDA Enforcement Review Looking Back at 2025
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FDA. Medical Device Recalls and Early Alerts