A state appeals panel has brought back to Pennsylvania several lawsuits against a French medical device-maker over allegedly defective blood filters, reversing a trial judge’s determination that Pennsylvania would be an inconvenient forum.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled this week that a Philadelphia trial judge failed to take into account Pennsylvania’s interest in the litigation and should not have granted defendants’ forum non conveniens motion. The case is one of more than 750 pending in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas’ mass tort program over allegedly defective inferior vena cava filters.