In the first bellwether trial over Bard’s hernia mesh, jurors were surrounded on three sides by plexiglass. Lead plaintiff attorney Timothy O’Brien called the configuration an “egg carton.” In fact, in opening statements, O’Brien, who had to look through plexiglass from his own counsel table, joked to the jury that he had never tried a case “looking outside of a goldfish bowl.”

But on Sept. 8, the trial in Columbus, Ohio, achieved what it was supposed to, ending with a verdict after six weeks. The jury sided with Bard. The next bellwether trial is scheduled for Jan. 10.