Bard PowerPort claims: who can file and what to do in Michigan

MDL 3081 (In re: Bard PowerPort) is centralized before Chief Judge David G. Campbell in the District of Arizona. Michigan cases from the Eastern District (Detroit/Flint/Ann Arbor) and Western District (Grand Rapids/Lansing/Kalamazoo) are transferred to Phoenix for consolidated pretrial proceedings. Michigan’s major academic medical centers — particularly in Ann Arbor and Detroit — have generated a meaningful volume of PowerPort-related MDL filings.

Michigan imposes a 3-year statute of limitations for personal injury and product liability claims under MCL § 600.5805(2). Michigan has no general discovery rule: a claim accrues when the wrong is done, regardless of when damage results, unless a statute provides otherwise (MCL 600.5827; Trentadue v. Buckler Automatic Lawn Sprinkler Co., 479 Mich. 378 (2007)). Michigan has no product liability statute of repose; under MCL § 600.5805(12), for a product in use for at least 10 years the plaintiff must prove a prima facie case without the benefit of any presumption, which may affect older PowerPort implant cases.

Michigan’s cancer care network includes the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center (Ann Arbor — NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center), Karmanos Cancer Institute (Detroit — NCI-Designated), Spectrum Health/Corewell Health’s cancer programs in Grand Rapids, and Henry Ford Cancer Institute (Detroit). Michigan’s two NCI-Designated Cancer Centers and extensive university health system infrastructure support high PowerPort utilization in chemotherapy-dependent patient populations statewide.

Primary federal venues for Michigan PowerPort plaintiffs are the E.D. Mich. (Detroit/Ann Arbor Division) and W.D. Mich. (Grand Rapids Division), both of which transfer cases to MDL 3081 in Arizona. BD’s Bard Medical subsidiary distributes PowerPort devices through Michigan’s major GPO and IDN contracts and maintains sales territory management serving Michigan health systems including Michigan Medicine, Henry Ford Health, and Corewell Health. BD’s Michigan market contacts support personal jurisdiction in Michigan state and federal courts.