Published July 23, 2026
On October 3, 2024, Becton Dickinson (BD), which owns hernia mesh makers C.R. Bard and Davol, announced it would pay more than $1 billion to resolve the "vast majority" of its pending hernia mesh lawsuits — more than 38,000 cases alleging patients suffered organ damage, infections, chronic pain, and the need for revision surgery because of defective mesh. The company had set aside $1.7 billion in product-liability reserves as of mid-2024, and structured the settlement to pay out over a multi-year period.
Most of the underlying cases were consolidated in a federal multidistrict litigation in the Southern District of Ohio, MDL 2846. Plaintiffs alleged that Bard and Davol designed defective polypropylene mesh products, failed to adequately test them, and didn't properly warn doctors or patients about risks including mesh migration, shrinkage, and bowel adhesion or perforation.
BD didn't admit wrongdoing as part of the deal, and the settlement didn't stop new cases from coming in. Additional lawsuits continued to be filed and transferred into the MDL in the months that followed, since the agreement was built to resolve claims that existed at the time rather than close the litigation to future filers.
This settlement became something of a template for hernia mesh litigation more broadly — its points-based payout structure and third-party fund administrator model are frequently referenced as a benchmark in coverage of later hernia mesh developments, including the ongoing Covidien bellwether litigation in a separate federal MDL. If you believe you were harmed by a hernia mesh product, see Atumio's hernia mesh case page for a free case review, or start your case review directly.