Published September 25, 2026
The next jury test in the federal Bard PowerPort litigation is set to begin on October 13, 2026. The case, brought by Florida resident May Lattanzio, is the third bellwether trial in MDL 3081, which is pending before Judge David G. Campbell in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
Lattanzio's case is an infection claim. She alleges that defects in her Bard implanted port catheter allowed bacteria to colonize the device, leading to a bloodstream infection and sepsis. That puts the trial squarely on one of the two main injury theories in the litigation — the other being catheter fracture and migration.
The two earlier bellwethers split along those same lines. The first trial, an infection case brought by Robert Cook in April 2026, ended in a defense verdict, although reporting indicates the jury deadlocked on the design-defect question. The second, Kimberly Divelbliss's fracture case, produced a $40 million plaintiff verdict in early September after the jury found design defect and failure to warn.
Because infection claims make up a large share of the docket, Lattanzio gives both sides a second look at how a jury weighs that theory — and a plaintiff win would complicate the picture left by the first trial. Bellwether outcomes don't bind other plaintiffs, but they are closely watched as signals for how any eventual global settlement might value different categories of claims. No global settlement has been announced.
As of September 2026, 3,734 PowerPort lawsuits were pending in the MDL, more than 1,000 of them added since January. Plaintiffs broadly allege that the catheter material used in Bard's port devices can degrade, crack, or harbor bacteria, and that Bard did not adequately warn about those risks. Further bellwether trials are scheduled for December 1, 2026 and February 2, 2027.
If you or a loved one had a Bard implanted port that fractured, migrated, or led to an infection or blood clot, see Atumio's Bard PowerPort case page for a free eligibility review, or start your case review directly.