First Jury Trials Set in DePuy ASR Hip Implant Lawsuits
The first trials in the ASR hip implant multidistrict litigation will take place in May and July of 2013. These trial settings should push settlement negotiations for the other six thousand cases that have been filed against DePuy Orthopeadics and Johnson & Johnson for the failed ASR hip implant design. This product was recalled in the summer of 2010 and the companies have refused to make settlement offers to the thousands of suffering hip implant patients who have filed lawsuits.
The Order setting these trials was signed Friday December 28, 2012 by United States District Court Judge David Katz in Toledo, Ohio. Judge Katz is has scheduled the next case management hearing to take place in January in Palm Beach, Florida.
It is expected that many more lawsuits will be filed against J & J and DePuy Orthopaedics as the ASR implants are continuing to fail at an extraordinary rate. The ASR is a metal on metal implant that has the worst failure rate of any metal on metal hip implant. The metal on metal design for hip implants has been almost totally discredited for use in any patients because they are all showing high failure rates due to metallosis. Metallosis is a metal poisoning of the tissues in the hip from metal ions that are leaching from the metal on metal articulation of the hip implants.
Other metal on metal implants that are failing and which are the subject of lawsuits are the Biomet Magnum, The DePuy Pinnacle Ultimet, the Wright Converse, the Sith & Nephew R3, and the Zimmer Durom Cup. So far there have been no jury trials in any of the metal on metal hip implant lawsuits.
These first DePuy ASR lawsuit trials should measure a jury response to the conduct of these companies and the lawsuits against them. If the verdicts are high that will likely influence the settlement value of other cases. The reverse is also true: if the verdicts find no liability or are for low money damages then that will likely be reflected in settlement offers in other lawsuits.
All of the companies that made these metal on metal hip implants competed against each other to rush these defective and dangerous products to market. I expect that when juries hear how these companies put their own corporate profits ahead of people’s safety they will award substantial damages to those who have suffered failure of their hip implants.