Bard PowerPort MDL in the District of Arizona

What Is an MDL and How Does It Work?

A multidistrict litigation (MDL) is a federal procedural mechanism that consolidates related cases from courts across the country into a single district for coordinated pretrial proceedings. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) transfers cases sharing common factual questions to a single transferee court — in this case, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona — where one judge manages all pretrial matters for the entire litigation. The MDL does not merge the cases into a single lawsuit: each plaintiff retains their individual case, their individual claimed damages, and their individual right to a separate trial or settlement. The efficiency of the MDL comes from sharing discovery — documents, depositions of Becton Dickinson witnesses, and general causation expert work — across all cases rather than duplicating those efforts thousands of times.

The PowerPort MDL was established by JPML Order dated October 2022, consolidating cases pending in multiple federal districts. The MDL Judge issues Case Management Orders (CMOs) governing the schedule for plaintiff fact sheets, defendant document production, expert disclosure deadlines, and bellwether trial selection. The Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (PSC) — a group of experienced plaintiffs' attorneys appointed by the court — leads plaintiff-side discovery strategy on behalf of all plaintiffs. Individual plaintiffs' attorneys work with the PSC while maintaining their individual client relationships.

Where the MDL Stands as of Early 2026

As of early 2026, the Bard PowerPort MDL in the District of Arizona has grown to include thousands of plaintiffs with claims arising from catheter fracture, fragment embolization, infection, cardiac injury, and wrongful death. General causation discovery — addressing whether the PowerPort's polyurethane catheter is capable of fracturing and causing the injuries alleged — has proceeded with expert disclosures from both sides. Becton Dickinson has produced millions of pages of internal documents through the discovery process, including communications about the polyurethane degradation issue, adverse event reports submitted to the FDA under 21 CFR Part 803, and internal materials science testing data. The bellwether trial selection process, in which a pool of representative cases is selected for early trial to generate jury verdict data, is underway. Bellwether verdicts are expected to catalyze global settlement negotiations.

What Joining the MDL Means for Individual Plaintiffs

Filing a PowerPort claim means filing a complaint in any federal district court, which is then transferred to the District of Arizona MDL. Within the MDL, each plaintiff completes a Plaintiff Fact Sheet (PFS) — a detailed questionnaire documenting the device implantation date, medical history, fracture discovery, injuries sustained, and treatment received. The PFS serves as the primary individual case record during MDL proceedings. Plaintiffs do not attend hearings or appear in Arizona — their attorneys handle all court appearances. Individual plaintiffs receive updates from their attorneys as the MDL progresses through key milestones.

When the MDL reaches a global settlement, each plaintiff's claim is evaluated individually against a settlement compensation matrix that assigns values based on injury severity, age, and other factors. Plaintiffs are not required to accept a global settlement — each plaintiff has the right to opt out and proceed to individual trial. In practice, the overwhelming majority of MDL plaintiffs accept global settlements because they represent fair compensation without the delay and uncertainty of individual trial. Plaintiffs who do not join the MDL and instead pursue state court claims may proceed on a parallel track, though they do not benefit from the MDL's shared discovery resources.