Hernia patch verdict reached in favor of plaintiffs in case against Davol, Inc. and C.R. Bard, Inc.
On Monday, August 23, 2010, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island awarded a North Carolina couple, Christopher and Laure Thorpe, $1.5 million dollars for severe injuries that Thorpe suffered due to complications from the Composix® Kugel® Mesh hernia patch manufactured by Cranston-based company Davol, Inc.
In the case Christopher Thorpe and Laure Thorpe v. Davol, Inc. and C.R. Bard, Inc., the jury found that Davol, Inc. and its parent company C.R. Bard, Inc. were unreasonable in their design of the patch.
This case was the second case to go to trial out of the thousands filed against Davol and C.R. Bard. Motley Rice attorney Don Migliori, who represents the Thorpes and serves as co-lead counsel and liaison counsel alongside co-counsel Ernie Cory of Cory, Watson, Crowder DeGaris, P.C., said that about 20 percent of the filed cases in the hernia patch multidistrict litigation are similar to Thorpe's in terms of the seriousness of injury.
Motley Rice attorneys who also worked on the case and were a central part of the trial team include Vin Green, Mike Rousseau and Elizabeth Smith.