Cook Medical is litigating multidistrict litigation involving its inferior vena cava (IVC) filter product. Our firm is representing Bloomington, Indiana-based Cook as national coordinating counsel, trial counsel, discovery counsel and settlement counsel in this matter, which involves Cook's Gunther Tulip and Celect IVC filter products.
In November 2017 in Elizabeth Hill v. Cook Medical LLC, the first bellwether test case involving Cook’s IVC filters, the Court entered summary judgment in favor of Cook against the plaintiffs’ failure to warn claim, leaving only the design claim for trial. The Evansville, Indiana, jury later unanimously concluded that the plaintiff failed to prove a defect in the plaintiff’s IVC Filter. The trial involved complex scientific issues and included examination and cross-examination of the former commissioner of the United States Food & Drug Administration, key medical experts in the fields of vascular surgery and cardiothoracic surgery, as well as company witnesses.
In the second bellwether case to reach judgment, a federal district court granted summary judgment in favor of Cook in Arthur Gage v. Cook Inc. The decision marked the second straight win for Cook in the litigation’s bellwether cases, which were selected by the Court to test the legitimacy of the plaintiffs’ claims.
Prior to the third bellwether trial in January 2019, Brand v. Cook Medical Inc., a judge in the Southern District of Indiana granted summary judgment on all but one of the plaintiff’s claims. While the jury returned a modest plaintiff’s verdict on compensatory damages, the jury denied plaintiff’s request for tens of millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages. Following the jury verdict, the firm filed multiple post-trial motions, and in January 2020, U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young reversed the jury’s verdict and ordered that Cook would receive a new trial.
In March 2020, Judge Young entered summary judgment on all counts in the fourth bellwether case, McDermitt v. Cook Medical Inc., set for trial in June of 2020. A month later, in April 2020, the plaintiffs dismissed the fifth bellwether case, Johnson v. Cook Medical Inc. Later, the plaintiffs dismissed the sixth and seventh bellwether cases (Burrage v. Cook Medical Inc. and Bowen v. Cook Medical Inc.), and in April 2022, they moved to dismiss an eighth, Wilson v. Cook Medical Inc. On November 13, 2023 the Court entered summary judgment on the ninth case selected for a bellwether trial, Ernie Scott v. Cook Incorporated, Cook Medical LLC (f/k/a Cook Medical Incorporated), and William Cook Europe ApS, finding they lacked expert evidence necessary to support a claim Cook’s Tulip filter was negligently designed.
Additional victories in this MDL include the Faegre Drinker team’s advocacy for, and the Court’s entry of, multiple Screening Orders designed to cull meritless and time-barred cases from the MDL. As a result of Faegre Drinker’s dispositive motions practice and Screening Orders, more than 2,000 cases have resolved through dismissals or motion practice.
The Cook team also recently defeated class certification in Ontario, Canada.
