Comment k Bars Strict Liability Claims in Bard IVC Filter Case, Pa. Federal Judge Says

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge has dismissed a strict liability manufacturing defect claim in a C.R. Bard’s G2 IVC Filter action, predicting that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would extend the “unavoidably unsafe” doctrine in comment k to §402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts to medical devices.

However, in the July 30 order, Judge Nitza I. Quinones Alejandro of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania allowed the plaintiff to amend her claims for negligence, breach of express warranty and negligent misrepresentation.

Denise McGrain underwent implantation of a Bard G2 IVC filter. In 2020, a …