Bard PowerPort Bellwether Trial Tracker

Trial 1: Cook (infection)

The first bellwether, Cook v. Becton, Dickinson, ran from April 21, 2026 into early May 2026. Robert Cook, a Minnesota colorectal-cancer patient, was hospitalized for six days and had chemotherapy delayed about two weeks after his PowerPort became infected. Heading into trial, Judge Campbell had denied nearly all of Bard's summary-judgment motion on March 5, 2026. The jury then returned a defense verdict on the claims it decided, clearing Bard and Becton Dickinson on failure to warn, failure to instruct, and consumer fraud, and hung on the central design-defect claim. Plaintiff moved on June 3, 2026 for a new trial or judgment as a matter of law, arguing faulty jury instructions and time pressure on the jury; the motion was fully briefed on July 15 and remained undecided as of September 30, 2026.

Trial 2: Divelbliss (fracture): $40M plaintiff verdict, September 4, 2026

Divelbliss was the first catheter-fracture case in the MDL to reach a jury, and it produced the first plaintiff verdict in the litigation. The trial began August 18, 2026, and on September 4, 2026 the jury awarded Kimberly Divelbliss $40 million in compensatory damages. It found design defect and failure to warn, found no manufacturing defect and no fraudulent concealment, and declined to award punitive damages (Bard had moved at the July 17 pretrial conference to bifurcate the punitive question). Because Cook was an infection case that hung on design defect, Divelbliss was the first jury to decide the design-defect theory, and it decided it for the plaintiff. The case involved a silicone Groshong catheter placed in the subclavian vein. The court entered judgment on September 10, 2026: $40 million, plus post-judgment interest and costs. Read our full write-up of the Divelbliss verdict.

Trial 3: Lattanzio (infection): set for October 13, 2026

Lattanzio v. Becton, Dickinson is set for trial from October 13 to 30, 2026 under CMO 42. It is an infection case. The Florida plaintiff's PowerPort, which had a silicone catheter, was implanted on August 16, 2013; the plaintiff developed a staph bloodstream infection and possible sepsis, and the port was removed on December 13, 2013. On September 25, 2026 the court denied summary judgment, leaving claims for design defect, failure to warn, misrepresentation or concealment, and punitive damages for trial. According to Bloomberg Law, the court also rejected Bard's argument that the claims were time-barred. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves of the U.S. Court of International Trade, sitting by designation, will conduct the trial. The final pretrial conference was held September 15, and a hearing on the juror questionnaire is set for October 5. Two MDL-wide rulings issued September 8 also limit defense experts: Dr. Sydnor may not offer design-defect opinions, and Christy Foreman may not offer infection-rate opinions or tell jurors that FDA "approved" the labeling through the 510(k) process.

Trials 4 and 5: Hicks and Sorensen

Hicks is set for trial from December 1 to 21, 2026 under First Amended CMO 50 (September 24, 2026), with an in-person final pretrial conference in Phoenix on October 26. Judge Choe-Groves will also conduct that trial. Sorensen is set for February 2 to 19, 2027 under CMO 42. The injury type and catheter material in these two cases have not been confirmed in any source we can verify, so we do not state them.

What the program is built to test

The bellwethers are structured to span more than one injury type and more than one catheter material, because the alleged design defect may play differently for infection, fracture, and thrombosis. Fracture claims are only about 12% of the MDL inventory per CMO 48, with infection and thrombosis claims making up the majority, so the order and mix of trials is meant to be representative of the docket rather than of the most dramatic injuries.

What happens after the bellwethers

Judge Campbell set out the fallback in CMO 48: cases not resolved by settlement after the bellwethers are to be transferred or remanded to their home districts for resolution. There is no global settlement and no settlement fund as of October 2026, though Divelbliss produced the first plaintiff verdict ($40 million) on September 4, and we do not publish projected per-case figures because no verified source has published any.