Published September 13, 2026
A federal jury in the District of Arizona awarded Kimberly Divelbliss $40 million in compensatory damages on September 4, 2026, finding that C.R. Bard and its parent company, Becton Dickinson, defectively designed the PowerPort implanted catheter and failed to adequately warn about its risks. The verdict came after a three-week trial and is the first plaintiff win in the five-case bellwether program overseeing more than 3,700 PowerPort lawsuits consolidated in the federal MDL.
Divelbliss's PowerPort fractured roughly two years after implantation, and a fragment of the catheter lodged in her heart, requiring emergency removal surgery and leading to cardiac arrhythmias and additional cardiac procedures. The jury found Bard and Becton Dickinson liable on design defect, failure to warn, negligent design, and negligent failure to warn claims, but declined to award punitive damages.
This result stands in contrast to the MDL's first bellwether trial, Cook v. Becton Dickinson, which concluded in early May 2026 with a defense verdict on the failure-to-warn and consumer-fraud claims and a hung jury on the central design-defect question. That split outcome left both sides without a clear signal on how juries would view the litigation; the Divelbliss verdict is the first time a PowerPort jury has ruled for a plaintiff on all counts it decided.
Three more bellwether trials are scheduled to test the litigation further: a case involving plaintiff May Lattanzio set for October 13, 2026, followed by trials on December 1, 2026, and February 2, 2027. Bellwether verdicts don't decide any other person's case directly, but they typically inform how a manufacturer approaches settlement talks for the broader group of pending claims.
If you were implanted with a Bard PowerPort device that fractured, migrated, or caused an infection, see Atumio's Bard PowerPort case page for a free eligibility review, or start your case review directly.