Plaintiff’s Expert Testimony Permitted in Wash. Federal Bard IVC Filter Action

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge has refused to exclude the testimony of plaintiffs’ expert Dr. Robert Allen in a C.R. Bard IVC filter action, ruling he is qualified to opine on the adequacy of the device’s warnings and its alleged defects.

In a Sept. 22 order, Chief Judge Ricardo Martinez of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington further found the expert reliably applied a differential diagnosis in concluding that the filter caused the plaintiff’s alleged injuries.

In January 2005, Christopher Shafer was implanted with a Bard Recovery retrievable IVC inferior filter to prevent pulmonary embolism. …