Depuy Pinnacle Hip Lawsuit Updates For 2017 & 2016

Depuy Pinnacle and ASR Hip Lawsuit Updates for 2017 and 2016.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Jury Awards $247 Million Verdict In Fourth Bellweather Depuy Hip Trial

November 16, 2017

A Texas federal jury has awarded a $247 million verdict in the fourth bellwether trial against Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. This is the third major verdict against the maker of the metal on metal hips.

The unanimous jury found that Johnson and Johnson and DePuy were liable for a series of design and manufacturing defects, fraud and deceptive business practices. They also found that the companies had acted with wanton, reckless or malicious conduct. They awarded $90 million in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson and $78 million in punitive damages against DePuy.

The jury specifically found Johnson and Johnson and DePuy liable for design defect, negligent design, inadequate warning, manufacturing defect, negligent manufacture, negligent misrepresentation, intentional misrepresentation to the surgeons who performed the initial hip implant surgeries on the plaintiffs, fraudulent concealment from the plaintiffs and from the surgeons and deceptive business practices as to the plaintiffs and the surgeons. The jury also found Johnson and Johnson liable for negligent undertaking of a duty to provide services to DePuy and for aiding and abetting DePuy in its tortious conduct.

For the six individual plaintiffs the jury awarded more than $77 million in past and future medical expenses and pain and suffering, including each plaintiffs’ actual past medical expenses. Four of the plaintiffs’ spouses were awarded loss of consortium damages totaling $1.7 million.

Johnson & Johnson is almost certain to appeal the verdict on the grounds that the Court had no jurisdiction. However, Judge Ed Kinkeade excluded from evidence a number of documents and emails that Johnson & Johnson argued shouldn't have been admitted in previous bellwether trials. This is important because it means the jury evaluated Johnson & Johnson’s best possible defense and found it so lacking that they still awarded nearly a quarter-billion dollars in damages.

The verdict followed a two-month trial, the fourth trial in multidistrict litigation that includes more than 9,000 cases alleging design defects in DePuy’s Pinnacle Ultamet line of metal-on-metal hip implant. In 2016, Texas juries found in favor of two groups of plaintiffs from Texas and California, awarding them $502 million and more than $1 billion in damages. These verdicts were later reduced to $150 million and $543 million.

Although Johnson and Johnson has already said they will appeal, the attorneys at TheLawFirm.com hope that they begin to settle these cases. If they don’t become more reasonable, it is time for Judge Kinkeade to remand these cases for trial.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Judge refuses jurors to hear testimony related to witness tampering

November 14, 2017

A Texas federal judge has refused to allow jurors in the fourth bellwether hip implant liability trial to hear testimony related to alleged witness tampering. These allegations arose from communications between a lawyer for Johnson and Johnson and a company sales representative.

This decision came a day before the much awaited closing argument in the trial in which six plaintiffs who had Pinnacle Ultamet metal-on-metal hip implants allege Johnson & Johnson made a defective product and failed to adequately warn of its risks.

For the past month, the FBI has have been investigating allegations that a DePuy sales representative “tainted” a witness just days before he was set to testify.

The representative testified he told the witness that lawyers for DePuy were on him "like crazy,” put “big-time pressure” on him, had “peppered” him and that he was concerned the witness’s testimony in the trial could lead to ramifications for the doctor's practice.

This testimony was contrary to another description he gave regarding the conversations with Johnson & Johnson lawyers.

Lawyers for Johnson & Johnson expressed pleasure with the ruling, calling the witness tampering allegations “overblown”.

The attorneys at TheLawFirm.com are pleased that this issue is behind us. If Johnson & Johnson loses this trial, it would have given them an issue to appeal. The evidence did not appear to support the allegations going to the jury and the Judge made the right call. With thousands of victims waiting for compensation, it is hoped that the results of this 4th trial will finally bring Johnson and Johnson to the table.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Plaintiffs Claim Witness Tampering In Depuy Hip Trial

November 2, 2017

The fourth bellwether trial involving allegations Johnson & Johnson and DePuy made and marketed a defective metal-on-metal hip implant, known as the Pinnacle Ultamet, is underway in Texas. However, about a month into the trial the Plaintiffs raised an allegation of witness tampering. Johnson & Johnson claims that the accusations have been “overblown” by plaintiffs’ counsel. In a highly unusual move, the Judge referred the accusations to law enforcement.

Johnson & Johnson and DePuy said the evidence obtained to date shows there’s no need to derail the ongoing civil trial while the U.S. attorney’s office continues with the criminal investigation.

The companies said their lawyers had merely made a few phone calls to schedule a “routine, legal and legitimate” conversation with an employee of their client who might have knowledge pertinent to the litigation.

The Plaintiffs say that a doctor who treated three of the six plaintiffs was “tainted” by an in-person conversation with a DePuy sales representative who expressed concern about the doctor coming to testify, purportedly after DePuy lawyers “pressured” the sales representative in a series of phone calls.

The stakes involved are enormous. Over 9000 cases remain in the MDL. Johnson & Johnson has so far refused to resolve the cases. If another verdict comes in for hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars, it is hoped that these cases will move towards appropriate settlement.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Johnson & Johnson Loses Bid For Stay In Appealing Faulty Hip Device Case

October 6, 2017

Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics have lost their bid to have the First Circuit Court stay a decision over their allegedly defective hip replacement devices under the terms of the False Claims Act.

Antoni Nargol and David Langton, two consumer-advocate whistleblowers, have alleged that DePuy’s metal-on-metal hip replacement devices are dangerously faulty, yet the company nevertheless made direct claims for the device to federal and state healthcare agencies. Those false claims, the suit alleges, thereby indirectly caused physicians themselves to make false claims to the government. The suit had been tossed last year but was revived in July.

Johnson & Johnson and DePuy had hoped to delay the court’s decision as they prepare to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but that motion was formally denied.

The metal-on-metal construction of many hip replacement devices – including several manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and DePuy – has been implicated in a number of serious health problems. Tiny fragments of metal can be released by the movement of the artificial hip joints, and those fragments can then enter the bloodstream, causing infection, inflammation, organ damage, and, in some cases, death.

The case will now move on to the U.S. Supreme Court.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Fourth Johnson & Johnson Depuy Orthopaedics Lawsuit Underway

October 2, 2017

The fourth bellwether trial for Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Depuy Orthopaedics is underway in Texas. More than 9100 cases remain in the MDL. Questions have arisen about the value of this trial, given the procedural history of the matter.

Less than a week before the fourth bellwether was set to begin, a Fifth Circuit panel ruled that U.S. District Judge Kinkeade, who oversees the MDL, reached a “patently erroneous” result and clearly abused his discretion by holding that Johnson & Johnson and DePuy had waived their right to object to his court in Texas. In a MDL, there has to be consent to a trial going forth in the jurisdiction in charge of the MDL. The Plaintiffs assert that the defense gave such consent.

The panel requested — but did not mandate — Judge Kinkeade cancel the upcoming trial.

The plaintiffs sought rehearing en banc from the Fifth Circuit, but the panel denied the motion.

Given this ruling by the Fifth Circuit, a question arises about the value of this trial. Johnson and Johnson has made it clear that the trial proceeding is reversible error and will therefore do nothing to advance the ultimate resolution of the litigation.

Any legal issues aside (and it clear that a Plaintiff’s victory will be instantly appealed), bellwether trials have enormous value in our opinion. This trial is a chance for Johnson & Johnson to present their best evidence about the safety of metal on metal hips, and the Depuy in particular. Conversely, the Plaintiffs will present their best evidence as to why these products are defective and dangerous.

The jury will make a ruling about the safety of this product. If Johnson & Johnson loses, regardless of any appellate issues, it will mean that a jury decided their best defense on the merits. A win by the Plaintiffs will embolden the vigorous prosecution of the almost 10,000 claims currently in file in Federal Court.

TheLawFirm.com will update when the jury reaches a verdict

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Johnson & Johnson Depuy Hip Must Face New Trial

October 2, 2017

An Illinois plaintiff who filed suit against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics over the company’s alleged negligence in selling defective hip replacement devices has been granted a new trial against DePuy when a judge ruled that expert testimony had been unfairly barred from a previous trial.

Carol Strum has been granted a new trial some four years after the jury in a previous trial had ruled in favor of DePuy. In the initial trial, testimony on behalf of Strum that was to have been given by orthopedic surgeon and Newcastle University research fellow David Langton had been barred. Langton’s expertise is in the field of metal-on-metal orthopedic implants.

The metal-on-metal construction of many hip replacement devices – including the DePuy Articular Surface Replacement XL that Strum had had surgically implanted – has been implicated in a wide variety and health and medical problems. Metal parts of such devices grind against each other, and can thus create small metal particulates that can enter the bloodstream to cause infection, organ damage, and, in the most serious cases, death. All such conditions are related to a toxic state called metallosis.

Strum’s suit claims that DePuy failed to warn patients and doctors of their device’s risks, even though the company was aware of them. She also claims DePuy was negligent in designing a device that was prone to failure.

Langton’s testimony had been excluded, in part, because DePuy’s witnesses disputed it, claiming that Langton’s methodology was not generally accepted by the scientific community. Yet, in the recent decision, judge Mary Dooling ruled that the testimony had been inappropriately barred, thus clearing the way for a new trial for Strum.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Johnson & Johnson Fails To Escape False Claim Accusations In Hip Device Suit

October 1, 2017

Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics have lost another bid to escape the accusations that they indirectly submitted false claims to the government concerning their hip replacement devices.

The companies had attempted to get the courts to dismiss false-claim allegations by whistleblowers Antoni Nargol and David Langton. Those allegations state that, though the DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement device has a manufacturing defect owing to its metal-on-metal construction, the company made direct and false claims to state and federal government agencies that had the effect of indirectly causing healthcare providers to pass along those false claims to insurers.

The companies had argued that Nargol and Langton had failed to abide by certain technical standards of making allegations of false claims, but the courts refuted this argument.

The suit may now proceed as the plaintiffs originally planned it.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Plaintiff Granted New Trial in Hip Replacement Suit against DePuy

September 23, 2017

The Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois has granted a plaintiff a new trial in her case against DePuy Orthopaedics about the company’s allegedly negligent behavior concerning one of its hip replacement devices. The new trial was granted on the grounds that the testimony of a joint replacement researcher had been unfairly barred from the plaintiff’s previous trial.

Four years ago, Carol Strum lost her case against DePuy – a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson – which she had filed as part of a consolidated DePuy hip replacement litigation. Strum’s hip replacement device, along with many other models, has been linked with severe health problems that are allegedly caused by the devices’ moving metal parts grinding against each other and releasing tiny metal fragments into the bloodstream.

Upon losing the first trial, Strum immediately filed for a new trial on the grounds that the testimony of Dr. David J. Langton, a specialist in the health risks of so-called metal-on-metal implants, was prevented from being used in the initial trial.

The recent ruling held that the court erred four years ago in barring Dr. Langton’s expert opinion, in large part because some of DePuy’s witnesses took issue with his testimony.

In 2008, Strum received an operation to implant a DePuy Articular Surface Replacement XL hip replacement device. Two years later, the product was recalled, and Strum filed suit, claiming that DePuy was negligent in designing and selling a product that was prone to failure and that caused excessive wear of the hip replacement. Strum also alleged that DePuy was negligent in failing to adequately warn consumers of the dangers of the device.

Metal-on-metal hip replacement devices have been linked with a condition called metallosis, a kind of metal toxicity that can cause pain, inflammation, organ trauma, and that often necessitates additional, corrective surgeries.

The case is now due to proceed in Illinois court.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: New Bellwether Trial over Johnson & Johnson Hip Replacements Begins

September 21, 2017

The fourth bellwether trial in a 9100-plaintiff Multi-District Litigation (MDL)case over Johnson & Johnson’s allegedly neglectful conduct in designing, marketing, and selling allegedly defective metal-on-metal hip replacement devices has gotten underway in a Dallas courtroom.

Six plaintiffs will face one of the world’s largest manufacturers of medical devices in a trial that could have sweeping implications for the company. At issue in the trial is whether the Pinnacle Ultamet hip replacement – which is manufactured by DePuy Orthopaedics, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson – was defectively designed, poorly manufactured, and/or misleadingly marketed. DePuy and J&J also stand accused of neglect in failing to adequately warn consumers of the dangers of the Pinnacle Ultamet.

The metal-on-metal design of the device is allegedly to blame for the health problems suffered by the plaintiffs. The metal-on-metal design has been linked –in the Ultamet as well as in a wide range of other hip replacement products – to a dangerous condition called metallosis, a type of metal poisoning that can cause severe infection and organ failure.

In the previous bellwether trials in the Ultamet MDL, the companies successfully defended themselves in one trial but were ordered to pay out massive verdicts in the other two. One $502 million verdict was later trimmed to $150 million; another $1 billion verdict was trimmed to $543 million. DePuy is appealing those decisions.

Opening arguments from the plaintiffs focused on the companies’ alleged pattern of neglect and irresponsible manufacture of a delicate device, while the defendants’ opening arguments focused on the notion that all medical devices eventually wear down.

With so much money potentially on the line, and thousands of plaintiffs waiting on the outcome, the Texas bellwether trial will be watched very closely.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Johnson & Johnson Urge Court To Reconsider Hip Lawsuit Revival

September 13, 2017

Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics, which manufactures many of the most prominent and allegedly defect-riddled hip replacement devices, have urged a panel of the First Circuit Court to reconsider its partial revival of a suit that alleges that the companies submitted to the government false claims for faulty hip replacement products.

The companies made the request on the grounds that, according to the companies, the plaintiffs who filed the charges of misconduct in the original 2014 suit have not provided evidence of any specific false claims. The companies stated that granting a trial on an allegedly thin basis such as this would open the doors to a host of lawsuits that, in the companies’ opinions, would be flimsy.

The plaintiffs in the original suit alleged that the DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement device, which is notable for having the metal-on-metal construction that has been the source of many allegations of health complications, possessed a manufacturing defect, yet, the suit alleges, Johnson & Johnson and DePuy nevertheless submitted direct claims for the device to federal and state government agencies, an action that indirectly encouraged health care providers to submit false claims for the devices.

The suit was dismissed last year, but the First Circuit Court revived the portion of the suit concerning the indirect false claims submitted by health care providers.

DePuy and its parent company continue to insist that the plaintiffs have not submitted evidence of the alleged indirect false claims under current legal precedent.

The complex case is proceeding in New York.

If you’ve been injured by a defective metal-on-metal hip replacement device such as the DePuy Pinnacle, you may wish to file a lawsuit or join an existing suit against DePuy and Johnson & Johnson.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: First Circuit Court Urged to Reconsider Lawsuit Revival

September 5, 2017

Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics, which manufactures many of the most prominent and allegedly defect-riddled hip replacement devices, have urged a panel of the First Circuit Court to reconsider its partial revival of a suit that alleges that the companies submitted to the government false claims for faulty hip replacement products.

The companies made the request on the grounds that, according to the companies, the plaintiffs who filed the charges of misconduct in the original 2014 suit have not provided evidence of any specific false claims. The companies stated that granting a trial on an allegedly thin basis such as this would open the doors to a host of lawsuits that, in the companies’ opinions, would be flimsy.

The plaintiffs in the original suit alleged that the DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement device, which is notable for having the metal-on-metal construction that has been the source of many allegations of health complications, possessed a manufacturing defect, yet, the suit alleges, Johnson & Johnson and DePuy nevertheless submitted direct claims for the device to federal and state government agencies, an action that indirectly encouraged health care providers to submit false claims for the devices.

The suit was dismissed last year, but the First Circuit Court revived the portion of the suit concerning the indirect false claims submitted by health care providers.

DePuy and its parent company continue to insist that the plaintiffs have not submitted evidence of the alleged indirect false claims under current legal precedent.

The complex case is proceeding in New York.

If you’ve been injured by a defective metal-on-metal hip replacement device such as the DePuy Pinnacle, you may wish to file a lawsuit or join an existing suit against DePuy and Johnson & Johnson.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Johnson & Johnson Depuy Ordered To Pay $1.04

September 5, 2017

A jury ruled against Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit and awarded a verdict of $1.04 billion. The jury found that J&J and DePuy had negligently designed the hip implant, failed to warn surgeons about dangerous conditions related to the implant, and concealed its risks. However, US District Judge Ed Kinkeade in Texas has ruled that punitive damages cannot be more than 10 times a plaintiff’s actual damages and has reduced the verdict in half.

The jury had awarded $168 million in punitive damages to each of six plaintiffs. In halving the $1 billion total verdict, the judge cited the US Supreme Court ruling in State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell, saying that “[F]ew awards exceeding a single-digit ratio between punitive and compensatory damages, to a significant degree, will satisfy due process.”

The judge did not disturb $4 million and $6 million in compensatory damage awards.

Both sides have said they would appeal.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Johnson & Johnson Denies Liability In Pinnacle Hip Lawsuits

August 7, 2017

As the fourth bellwether trial over its Pinnacle Ultramet line of hip implants commences, Johnson & Johnson told a federal judge in Texas that it is not liable for any of the products manufactured by its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics.

At issue in the closely watched case is whether the Ultamet hip replacement devices, with their metal-on-metal construction, are prone to releasing potentially hazardous fine metal particles in the bloodstreams of people in whom the devices have been surgically implanted.

Though DePuy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, the parent company claims that it cannot be held legally responsible for any allegedly dangerously defective DePuy products.

Johnson & Johnson made an identical motion in one of the earlier bellwether trials in the Ultamet case. It was denied.

J&J has won one of the previous bellwether trials, and, in the others, has been ordered to pay nearly $700 million. The company has appealed those verdicts.

The trial is set to begin in Texas on September 5.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Depuy Appeals Court Findings

January 12, 2017

The Plaintiffs in the most recent victory against DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. have asked the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals to consolidate their appeals. Depuy is appealing the finding that the company knowingly sold a defective hip replacement. The Plaintiffs successfully argued to the jury that Pinnacle hip implants had several design flaws, that Dupuy failed to provide adequate warnings for the device, failed to properly test it before putting it on the market and other wise prioritized sales over product safety.

The Plaintiffs are citing the Federal Rules of Appeal that allow appeals to be joined. These Plaintiffs point out the cases have the same MDL, defendants, lawyers, plaintiff injuries, evidence and witnesses.

DePuy Hip Lawsuit News Update: Depuy Loses Another Trial - Ordered To Pay Over $500 Million

March 12, 2016

In March 2016, after a two-month trial, there was a verdict in a Texas-based lawsuit against DePuy. The case is In re: DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 3:11-md-02244, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The federal jury awarded, “$142 million in actual damages and $360 million in punitive damages to a group of five patients whose metal hips broke down and had to be removed. The artificial hips at issue were DePuy Pinnacle Acetabular Cup Systems, a metal-on-metal hip implant.

The jury found that the hip devices were defective and that the company failed to warn doctors and patients about the risks. The plaintiffs claimed that “design flaws caused the devices to fail more frequently and quickly than expected, leading to injuries including tissue death, bone erosion and high levels of metal in their blood.

In July 2016, the Court reduced this verdict to comply with Texas law. However, the final judgment was still in the tens of millions of dollars. Even with a major reduction in the award, it appears that Johnson and Johnson has no plans to pay it. They will certainly appeal this verdict, which will likely take years.

However, many still hope that this verdict will help settle the outstanding cases. It is our hope that the DePuy Pinnacle cases settle in a similar fashion to the DePuy ASR settlement, which resulted in a base award of $250,000 to each claimant who had a revision (replacement) of their DePuy hip implant.

Legal Disclaimer: The information in this article is not intended to be used as medical information or diagnosis. The sources of the information presented in the article have been researched and are linked within the article. Please seek out medical advice from a licensed medical professional if you are experiencing a problem with any of the drugs or devices mentioned in this article. 

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