Conviction offered as ‘impeachment by contradiction’ in hernia mesh trial

Heading into the second bellwether trial for thousands of tort claims involving polypropylene hernia mesh products, the defendants — C.R. Bard Inc. and Davol Inc. — worried that the plaintiffs would try to introduce evidence that in 1994 Bard and some former employees in a different division pled guilty to selling heart catheters that had not been approved for human use by the Food and Drug Administration. The plaintiffs in the mesh case argued that even if evidence about these convictions isn’t admissible under Federal …