Individuals who he joined the group lawsuit against Bard over injuries caused by its defective hernia mesh implants will now he additional time to file their claims. Due to ongoing technical issues with the Crosslink Portal—the designated platform for submitting medical records and supporting evidence—many claimants he experienced difficulties uploading their required documentation. These issues led to a delay in the original March 17, 2025 filing deadline, which has now been extended by several months to allow affected plaintiffs more time to complete their submissions.
Even with the extended deadline, act quickly. Delaying a claim could… delay your settlement. Like most MDL settlements, Bard’s settlement process is structured in a way that prioritizes earlier filers, meaning those who submit sooner may secure higher payouts before funds are depleted.
While the deadline extension provides some relief for those struggling with the portal issues, it does not change the fundamental reality that these settlements operate on a rolling basis. For claimants, the best course of action remains proactive engagement—working closely with attorneys to compile strong medical evidence and ensure their claims are submitted as quickly and comprehensively as possible.
February 20, 2025 – Is the Covidien Settlement Getting Closer?The Covidien litigation may be moving closer to potential settlement discussions as both sides he agreed to extend the deadline for selecting a mediator to February 24, 2025. The extension allows additional time for negotiations on choosing a neutral third party to oversee settlement talks, a key step to finally resolving these claims.
While the schedule for expert discovery remains largely unchanged, with plaintiffs’ expert reports now due by March 7, 2025, and defendants’ by April 18, 2025, the agreement to extend the settlement mediation deadline signals that both sides are looking to engage for the first time in real discussions that could lead to a resolution.
Though no settlement is guaranteed at this stage, the continued focus on mediation suggests that both parties are weighing potential resolutions while preparing for the bellwether trials. These early trials—which hopefully will never happen—would play a significant role in determining liability and potential settlement values for the broader group of plaintiffs.
It is fair to say that many expect the Covidien settlement amounts to be higher than the ones we are seeing with Bard. But that remains to be seen.
February 5, 2025 – New Covidien Mesh LawsuitIn a new lawsuit filed in Contra Costa County, California, a Sacramento man initiated legal action against several medical device manufacturers, including Covidien Inc., Medtronic USA Inc., Tyco Healthcare Group LP, and others, alleging that a defective hernia mesh implant caused him severe and lasting injuries.
The lawsuit claims that the plaintiff underwent hernia repair surgery in May 2022, during which he received a Covidien ProGrip Self-Gripping Polyester Mesh implant. Following the procedure, he suffered complications, including mesh failure, nerve damage, and chronic pain, ultimately requiring additional surgeries, including a triple neurectomy and vasectomy to remove the defective mesh.
The complaint alleges that the defendants negligently designed, manufactured, and marketed the hernia mesh while failing to warn patients and healthcare providers about its risks. The plaintiff contends that the mesh’s design led to its contraction, migration, and degradation, causing severe pain and necessitating further invasive surgeries. The lawsuit also includes claims against the implanting surgeon and Contra Costa Health, asserting medical negligence for failing to provide adequate informed consent and postoperative care.
The lawsuit asserts causes of action for strict product liability, negligence, fraudulent concealment, breach of express warranty, and medical malpractice. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages, arguing that the defendants knowingly misrepresented the safety of the mesh and concealed known risks from physicians and patients.
This case will likely get removed to the MDL.
February 3, 2025 – Pending Hernia Mesh LawsuitsThe number of pending claims in the MDLs as of today:
Bard: 24,102
Coviden: 1,660
The MDLs for Atrium C-Qur (500) and the Ethicon Physiomesh (16) continue but are quickly winding down.
Our lawyers are still taking new Bard and Coviden claims.
January 22, 2025 – More on How the Bard Settlement Will WorkThe MDL judge approved the creation of a Qualified Settlement Fund (QSF) to manage settlement payments for individuals who experienced complications from Bard’s hernia mesh products. This fund is designed to ensure that settlements are handled efficiently and transparently.
A Qualified Settlement Fund is a special account established to hold settlement money. It ensures that the funds are distributed properly to those who he been harmed. In this case, the fund will be managed by appointed administrators who will oversee the distribution process, ensuring that each eligible individual receives their settlement.
January 8, 2025 – Covidien MDL Moves ForwardThe Covidien MDL, which has long been overshadowed by the Bard hernia mesh litigation, continues to make significant progress. Our expectation is that the Covidien cases will ultimately yield higher settlement amounts than the Bard cases, given the scope of the injuries and the design defects alleged in the Covidien products.
Judge M. Page Kelly recently issued Case Management Order 15, outlining a new schedule for key pre-trial activities in 2025. This includes deadlines for general corporate discovery, expert discovery, bellwether trial case selection, and pre-trial motions. These steps will culminate in the first bellwether trials, expected to begin in late 2025 or early 2026. The outcomes of these trials will be critical in shaping settlement negotiations and determining Covidien’s liability.
December 1, 2024 – Closer Look at CMO #55 CMO #55 order establishes the Intensive Settlement Process (ISP) to facilitate the resolution of cases and appoints Ellen K. Reisman and John Jackson as Special Masters to oversee the process. Their duties include supervising settlement negotiations, mediating disputes, and ensuring that the ISP progresses efficiently. The Special Masters will report quarterly to the Court on the ISP’s status.The ISP is scheduled to begin in January 2027. This is not a typo. If you want to opt-out and settle your claim, you are put on ice for over two years.
Monthly settlement conferences and mediations will then commence to address unresolved claims. Plaintiffs will be required to submit comprehensive settlement packages in advance. If cases are not resolved in the initial conferences, formal mediations will be held under the supervision of a Special Master. Costs for mediations will be evenly divided between Bard and the plaintiffs participating in each session.
The ISP will remain active until all unresolved claims he been addressed, providing an opportunity for plaintiffs to negotiate settlements efficiently. However, if cases remain unresolved by June 2029, claimants may opt out of the process and proceed under the applicable docket control orders. So if you plan is to take your case to trial, the plan is to make you wait for over four-and-a-half years just to get the ball rolling again. Will this lee a lot of plaintiffs very bitter? Yes.
November 27, 2024 – Settlement Masters AppointedJudge Sargus has appointed Ellen K. Reisman and John Jackson as Special Masters to oversee the process. The court has also launched an Intensive Settlements Process (ISP), which the Special Masters will organize and manage under the court’s supervision. This process will remain active until all outstanding claims he been resolved.
Settlement masters often help establish a system to categorize plaintiffs into tiers or grids based on the severity of their injuries, the strength of their claims, or other relevant factors.
The comments section below has been very active with varying perspectives (most negative) on the settlement.
November 13, 2024 – Some Settlement Details Some settlement details are out there and I should he updated this space sooner… There is a Quick Pay option. For straightforward cases, such as those involving a single surgery and less severe injuries, you can take a fixed settlement amount of $25,000. For really weak cases that probably never should he been filed, plaintiffs can get $2,500. Claimants with more complex cases he the option to pursue higher-tier compensation, with payouts determined by the severity of their injuries.As more claimants select the Quick Pay option, the lower-value claims are removed from the general pool, increasing the erage payout for those with complex cases. This distribution allows for a larger share of the settlement funds to be allocated to claimants with the most significant injuries. As a result, each Quick Pay selection has the effect of raising the potential erage payout within the higher compensation tiers. The downside? Payouts under these tiers may take between two to four years for final distribution.
October 2, 2024 – Becton Dickinson Announces SettlementBecton Dickinson, who owns Bard, announced a settlement today to resolve the “vast majority” of hernia mesh lawsuits in the MDL and Rhode Island state court.
So this is the news everyone has been waiting for. More details to follow.
September 26, 2024 – Covidien Hernia Mesh Lawsuit Moves ForwardThe Covidien hernia mesh litigation, which now has nearly 1,500 lawsuits, continues to progress steadily, with plaintiff attorneys actively deposing key corporate representatives from Covidien/Medtronic. Hernia mesh lawyers are expected to remain deep in the discovery process, as plaintiffs look for more evidence to support their claims.
In contrast to the Covidien MDL’s momentum, the Bard hernia mesh MDL has hit a notable standstill, with plaintiffs feeling in limbo while the legal process drags on. The reality is that a Bard settlement is closer than Covidien. But at least plaintiffs in the Covidien’s litigation can feel progress. Right now, Bard plaintiffs understandably feel like they’re stuck on the side of the road, waiting for a tow. Hopefully, that changes soon and will he settlement progress—or some progress— to report.
September 5, 2024 – Frustrated with Settlement and Wanting RemandOne family is sick of waiting. Frustrated by the lack of settlement news, the family is asking to lee the MDL and he their case remanded to the District of Arizona, where it was originally filed. The case has obviously not progressed to resolution, and the plaintiffs, who are dealing with a wrongful death claim arising from catastrophic injuries linked to the Bard Composix Kugel Hernia Patch, he had it with the slow pace of settlement negotiations.
The urgency of this request is heightened by the deteriorating health of the plaintiff, who is battling a recurrence of cancer. This plaintiff’s condition highlights the urgent need for prompt legal proceedings, as he may not survive long enough to see the claim resolved.
Bigger picture, this family says that the MDL seems to he served its purpose for this case, with no further discovery expected and a fourth bellwether trial hing been canceled. Stating the obvious, plaintiffs’ motion points out that negotiations for a global settlement he been protracted and unfruitful.
So the plaintiffs argue that remanding the case would allow them to effectively utilize the general discovery already conducted under the MDL to pursue their case on individual merits in Arizona, aiming for a more direct and expedited resolution.
August 1, 2024 – Where Is the Bard Settlement?Mass tort litigation can be goofy. A lot of strange things happen. This litigation and this settlement is just particularly odd.
We now he case management orders for a settlement, but no actual settlement? It makes no sense.
My guess – and it is just a guess – is that the negotiating lawyers are telling the judge that we are so close, but we still he details to resolve, and the judge is accepting that and holding off on the nuclear option of remanding cases back to local federal courts.
The judge or the lawyer negotiating the settlement should inform the victims.
July 6, 2024 – Latest UpdateThere were two filings on Friday and each one is a big deal:
CMO #52: The parties jointly submitted Case Management Order No. 52 for the court’s approval, which put s a limited stay on all cases filed or transferred to this MDL before the date of the order. A stay is a pause. This stay prohibits the parties from taking any discovery, filing motions, or seeking relief, among other actions, except as specified in subsequent orders. Notably, the stay can be lifted for cases where plaintiffs opt out of the Master Settlement Agreement. Upon receiving an opt-out notice, defendants must file an individualized notice to lift the stay in that particular case. The court will not issue an order for each case; the stay will be automatically lifted upon filing the notice by the defendants. This order ensures the smooth administration of cases while respecting the terms of the Master Settlement Agreement. CMO #53: This proposed order is provide some hoops for plaintiffs who want to opt out of the settlement. They are not as draconian as you see in other mass torts although there may be more to come.The court quickly approved both orders.
Do either of these lay out the terms of the settlement? No. But they are laying out the rules for opting out of the settlement. Which tells you there is a settlement and a master settlement agreement.
Again, this settlement was pretty close and the details he not leaked out. We will report more when we know more.
July 1, 2024 – Settlement Rumors Equal More LawsuitsAs a Bard hernia mesh settlement is done or close to done (depending on who you talk to), lawyers were hustling to file new lawsuits, presumably to get into the settlement. The number of active cases surged last month from 22,896 in June to 23,641.
In a mature MDL like this, that is an extraordinary number of new lawsuits.
June 13, 2024 – Latest on Bard SettlementThe Bard MDL docket is quiet. There are rumors – good rumors – that some law firms he confidentially settled with Bard. But lips are sealed.
But Judge Sargus has said that absent a global settlement, he will remand the cases back to district courts around the country for trial. The expectation is that on or before June 24, the parties will he to report to the judge where they are on settlement. So something should break this month in terms of an announcement as to exactly where we are. (Regular readers of this update know that I he been wrong before when predicting progress.)
May 23, 2024 – Covidien MDL UpdateThe federal magistrate judge overseeing Covidien MDL is extending the current scheduling order by eight months due to “significant discovery deficiencies.” The judge also denied the plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery and their motion for sanctions.
This slows these cases down even further. Judge Kelley extended the deadline for general corporate discovery to December 9. Key deadlines include May 12, 2025, for identifying plaintiffs for the first two bellwether trials and setting dates for dispositive motions and Daubert challenges. The order of trials and trial dates will be determined after September 26, 2025. It will be hard to pressure Covidien to a settlement until there is a solid trial date.
Arguably, a Covidien hernia mesh lawsuit is stronger than a Bard case because the polyester used in Covidien’s products is even more problematic than the materials used by Bard.
Covidien Plaintiffs claim that polyester incites inflammation and a heightened foreign body response. It is described as being more brittle and significantly more susceptible to fatigue fracture, breakage, fragmentation, and other mechanical failures. Bard’s hernia mesh typically used polypropylene, which, with all of its flaws, does not he the same level of brittleness or susceptibility to mechanical failures as alleged with polyester.
As of May 1, there were 1,081 cases in the Covidien MDL-3029.
When will the Covidien hernia mesh case settle? Let’s just say that is projected to be after the Bard settlement, although there is hope for a domino effect.
April 11, 2024 – Covidien ScheduleWhile we wait on a Bard settlement, let’s look at what is on deck in the Covidien MDL:
Section Details New Deadline I. GENERAL CORPORATE DISCOVERY DEADLINE The deadline for completion of general corporate discovery is extended. December 9, 2024 II. EXPERT DISCOVERY FOR BELLWETHER DISCOVERY POOL PLAINTIFFS Plaintiffs and Defendants to serve their expert disclosures and reports followed by rebuttal and closure of expert discovery. Plaintiffs: December 23, 2024 Defendants: February 3, 2025 Rebuttal: March 3, 2025 Closes: May 28, 2025 III. MEDIATION Deadlines for identifying a mediator and completing mediation are extended. Identify Mediator: February 10, 2025 Complete Mediation: September 22, 2025 IV. SELECTION OF TRIAL CASES Deadline for identifying trial cases from the Bellwether Discovery Pool. May 12, 2025 V. DISPOSITIVE/DAUBERT MOTIONS Deadlines for filing, opposing, and replying to dispositive and/or Daubert motions in the Trial Cases. Filing: June 9, 2025 Oppositions: July 14, 2025 Replies: July 28, 2025 VI. MANNER AND ORDER OF TRIAL CASES Deadline for submission of proposals regarding the manner of trial, order, and timing of the Trial Cases. Proposal: September 26, 2025 Responses: October 3, 2025 March 26, 2024 – Settlement MediationDay two of the Bard mediation today. Will the cases settle? I think it is unlikely. The judge will add a note to the docket (which can be found on PACER) after the mediation today, if history is any guide. What the entry says will be an important tea leaf to whether these cases will be settled or remanded for trials across the country.
March 22, 2024 – Loss in LifeCell LawsuitOne piece of bad news in the hernia mesh litigation on one of the smaller products. A jury in New Jersey today found LifeCell not at fault in a lawsuit brought by a woman from Kentucky, who claimed that the company’s Strattice surgical mesh was poorly designed, leading to the recurrence of a hernia and necessitating surgery. This verdict marks the first victory for the medical device manufacturer in a jurisdiction where at least 93 cases are currently pending, all alleging harm caused by the mesh.
March 19, 2024 – Settlement Is FocusAll the energy in the hernia mesh litigation – even for non-Bard cases – is centered around settlement negotiations set to begin on Monday. Too many victims he waited far too long. Are the parties far apart at this point? No. But even small differences are many millions of dollars.
After all this time, plaintiffs want to get as much as possible. Bard wants to pay as little as possible, and there are no trial dates to put real pressure on them to move off its position. Still, there is a sense Bard wants to move on from this. It has other litigation – the BardPowerPort litigation is getting in full swing – to manage. If these cases get remanded, Bard’s legal costs will escalate quickly. Hopefully, that realization forces Bard to offer reasonable settlement amounts to resolve these lawsuits.
March 16, 2024 – Settlement Circle Is SmallJudge Sargus issued an order that establishes the mediation plan and schedule aimed at facilitating settlement in the Bard hernia mesh MDL.
According to the order, an in-person mediation session is slated for March 25 and March 26, 2024. The parties involved will convene under the guidance of Court-Appointed Mediator John Jackson, with further meetings subject to the mediator’s discretion.
However, if the parties fail to reach a mutually acceptable resolution or extend the deadline for discussions, they must notify the court of an impasse by May 24, 2024. In the event of an impasse, the parties are directed to collaborate on a joint proposal outlining a plan for advancing the litigation, including suggestions for remand. This proposal, or individual submissions if no consensus is reached, must be submitted by June 24, 2024. The court may then set a schedule for subsequent briefing and/or argument on the proposals.
These settlement negotiations that impact thousands of plaintiffs do not require a big conference room like you might think. The group is small. The plaintiffs will send just three lawyers on their negotiation committee.
March 1, 2024 – Covidien MDLJudge Saris, the Covidien MDL judge, has ordered the company to release a significant number of complaint files in the pretrial discovery process. These documents detail the issues faced by individuals following the use of hernia repair products distributed in the last decade.
Covidien was instructed to submit an extensive collection of hernia mesh complaint files without redactions to speed up the production process. As it should, this order bars plaintiffs from using any personal data from the complaint files unless they demonstrate a valid reason and obtain court or defendant approval.
It has been slow but this litigation is starting to move forward. Key deadlines he been set, including October 14, 2024, for submitting dispositive or Daubert motions, and November 22, 2024, for responses to these motions. So we are looking at a bellwether trial in 2025.
January 24, 2024 – Covidien ProblemsCovidien has more to worry about than the nearly 900 lawsuits against it in the hernia mesh MDL. The company is faced with a new lawsuit filed by a trust representing Mallinckrodt creditors, stemming from its 2013 separation of the opioid manufacturer Mallinckrodt Plc. The suit alleges Covidien unfairly profited billions and fraudulently transferred liabilities to Mallinckrodt, leing it overwhelmed with debt and opioid-related legal responsibilities.
January 4, 2024 – Plaintiffs’ Want to Push Ball Forward FasterWhat would put more pressure on Bard to make a reasonable settlement offer in the hernia mesh lawsuits in 2024? More trials. Plaintiffs keep winning but the spacing of these wins zaps some of the momentum.
The plaintiff’s hernia mesh lawyers he been trying to change this, asking for a new Case Management Order to oversee the future handling of cases and potential remand to state court where we can start trying these cases in multiple jurisdictions. Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that it’s time for an order that sets out a process for remand to ensure plaintiffs, many of whom he been waiting for nearly six years, will get their day in court or reach a fair resolution of their claims.
Their proposed order doesn’t suggest dumping all cases into district courts at once but rather working up cases in large groups at intervals. Once case-specific discovery is done, cases will be remanded back to the original district courts. The first group includes 1,500 cases, about 7.5% of the total filed cases.
The attorneys argue that continuing at the current pace of 1 to 2 trials per year would be impractical, taking thousands of years to try every case. They propose a measured approach to remand, beginning the process now, and organizing it in a logical and efficient manner. This includes selecting cases based on severity of injury, length of time filed, and involvement in bellwether trials. They also suggest multi-plaintiff trials to allocate costs efficiently and oid duplicate testimony.
Here is where we are after four trials.
CASE DATE RESULT VENUE Stinson Oct 2023 $500,000 MDL Trevino Aug 2022 $4.8 million Rhode Island Milanesi April 2022 $250,000 MDL Johns July 2021 DEFENSE MDLHopefully, if Bard is not going to come to its senses, we can he four trials a month instead of four trials over two-and-a-half years.
December 5, 2023 – Ethicon Settlement in GeorgiaJohnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Ethicon, he reached a settlement in a Georgia multidistrict litigation involving 224 lawsuits.
The settlement agreement was formalized with a joint motion for dismissal of the claims, which was filed by both parties and subsequently granted by U.S. District Judge Richard W. Story. Ethicon Inc. issued a statement with the usual blah blah blah about its commitment to patient safety and reminding us all that the settlement is not an admission of liability or wrongdoing. They stated that the decision to settle was made to oid a prolonged legal process.
This settlement follows a previous agreement approximately six months earlier, where the companies had settled with 161 plaintiffs in the same MDL
November 9, 2023 – $500,000 VerdictThe jury came back in Stinson with a $500,000 verdict. It is not $4.8 million like the last one, but this is a big win. Plaintiffs are winning these cases.
Here is the verdict sheet from the jury..
July 1, 2023 – Post-Trial Conversations with JurorsIn the first bellwether trial, the Johns case that is discussed below in the older updates, resulted in a defense verdict. One lesson the plaintiffs got from that verdict is that Mr. Johns’ failure to seek additional medical treatment did not help his cause.
A lawyer in the MDL leadership said this to someone who put it on their website. Bard, being petty, thought that the attorney must he talked to a juror. Ohio has a local rule that you cannot talk to jurors after the trial without the court’s permission (which is a little bit of an unusual rule).
So, already fearful that the next two cases going to trial are not “representative” because the victims he severe injuries, they filed a motion complaining about his breach of ethics and saying the cases that went to trial after Johns were not representative of the other cases in the MDL. But the plaintiffs’ attorneys were able to explain that the ‘feedback’ mentioned was based on a jury question during deliberations and the Court’s comments in a meeting with the PSC.
This satisfied Judge Argus. So Bard just wasted everyone’s time chasing windmills instead of working on offering a reasonable settlement amount to resolve the 20,000 lawsuits against it.
June 1, 2023 – Hernia Mesh Settlements in GeorgiaJohnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Ethicon Inc. he reached a settlement with plaintiffs in 161 cases related to a defective hernia mesh product. The parties filed a joint motion to dismiss the cases and stated that the settlement would cover all claims, counterclaims, and cross-claims.
September 16, 2022 Atrium Mesh UpdateBard is not the only class action lawsuit in the mesh litigation, as many people are apt to forget. There are now 3,308 cases pending in the Atrium hernia mesh MDL in New Hampshire (the baby of the hernia mesh class action MDLs). This is an increase of 17 new lawsuits over the last 30 days. So that class action is slowly growing.
August 29, 2022 Hernia Mesh Verdict UpdateA Rhode Island jury awarded $4.8 million in damages in the Trevino. The jury found that Bard’s Ventralex hernia mesh was defectively designed and the company filed to warn of the risks.
August 26, 2022 – Hernia Mesh Class Action UpdateIs a hernia mesh settlement finally on the horizon? It may be. A settlement mediator was appointed by the Bard mesh class action judge last week.
Notably, the settlement mediator was appointed with the joint agreement of lawyers on both sides to facilitate negotiations on the global settlement of the C.R. Bard hernia mesh lawsuits. If the Bard domino falls, other hernia mesh class actions might also fall into place.
This is a significant step forward that could result in a negotiated settlement before the end of 2022. The MDL judge also scheduled two more bellwether trials for February – the long-awaited Stinson case Bard wants to oid – and another in May 2023. So that gives Bard an extra incentive to offer reasonable settlement payouts for victims before that case goes to trial.
August 24, 2022 Covidien Class Action UpdateJudge Patti B. Saris held the first status conference this week in the new Covidien hernia mesh MDL in Massachusetts. The Covidien hernia mesh MDL was established in June and has 90 pending cases. The first order of business for Judge Saris will be to appoint attorneys to serve on the plaintiffs’ leadership committee. Once that is done, the next task will be establishing a discovery plan and protocol for selecting initial bellwether test cases.
July 7, 2022 – Hernia Mesh Class Action UpdateGood news out of the MDL class action lawsuit. Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. ruled that Bard’s lawyers’ request for a “Lone Pine” order that would he put a significant burden on victims and their lawyers would be denied.
Bard wanted to make plaintiffs’ attorneys produce more case-specific evidence than you usually would expect in class action litigation at this phase.
The judge said such an order would be unnecessary because there was already bountiful evidence of the core of each plaintiff’s claim. Plaintiffs he already answered fact sheets that provide medical records and other evidence of their injuries.
May 24, 2022 – Milanesi AppealHernia mesh lawyers were glad to win Milanesi but unhappy with the verdict. Bard was disappointed with the verdict. So neither side was entirely happy with the $250,000 verdict awarded to Plaintiffs Antonio and Alicia Milanesi in the 2nd bellwether trial against C.R. Bard.
Soon after the verdict was issued, both the plaintiffs and the defendants filed motions challenging the verdict. The plaintiffs filed a Motion for a New Trial on Damages (FRCP 59) because the trial judge failed to correctly instruct the jury that the defense had the burden of proof on the issue of mitigation of damages.
Bard’s defense team filed a Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law (FRCP 50(b)), claiming that the plaintiffs failed to prove that the hernia mesh was defective under Florida’s risk-utility standard. Bard’s motion also argues that the plaintiffs did not establish causation under Florida law.
Responses to both motions are due tomorrow.