Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog
As a Texas medical doctor and DePuy ASR recall and DePuy Pinnacle injury replacement attorney I am providing this litigation update.
The DePuy Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip replacement lawsuits have now past the 2,500 mark. These lawsuits alleging a defective DePuy Pinnacle hip device have been consolidated in the federal court system, in the Northern District of Texas.
What is the problem with DePuy Pinnacle Hips?
The complaints allege that there are significant design defects with the DePuy Pinnacle hip. And that these defects caused the implant to loosen or fail within a few years, resulting in the need for revision surgery to remove or replace the device.
What is a MDL?
All DePuy Pinnacle lawsuits have been centralized in the Northern District of Texas as part of an MDL. The MDL allows the coordinated handling of many lawsuits and is designed to avoid redundant discovery, avoid conflicting pretrial rulings from different judges and to serve all of the parties.
Bellwether Trials expected in 2014
The first DePuy Pinnacle hip lawsuits are expected to be ready for trial by September 1, 2014.
DePuy ASR Lawsuits Among Largest in Federal Court System
Johnson and Johnson, the owner of DePuy also faces litigation involving their DePuy ASR hip replacement lawsuits. The DePuy ASR hip implant was recalled in August 2010. According to medical reports, the DePuy ASR artificial hip was failing in about 12% to 13% of patients within five years.
The federal DePuy ASR litigation has been consolidated as part of a MDL, which is centralized in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. The bellwether trials are expected to begin in April 2013.
DePuy ASR lawsuits allege that problems are caused by metal particles released from the implants as the metal parts grind against each other. The inflammatory reaction is provoked by the metal particles both locally in the hip joint and absorbed into the blood stream, a condition known as metallosis.
Other Metal on Metal Hip Lawsuits
Manufacturers of other metal-on-metal hip replacement systems face similar claims over problems with their implants, including the Biomet M2A-Magnum hip replacement, Stryker Rejuvenate, Stryker ABG II and Wright Medical Conserve Plus hip.