$247 Million Verdict Against J&J in DePuy Pinnacle Hip Trial
A Dallas Federal jury issued a $247 million dollar verdict against Johnson & Johnson and DePuy Orthopedics today. The jury reached their unanimous verdict in favor of 6 hip replacement patients who were seriously hurt by Pinnacle metal on metal hip implants.
Today, the Dallas jury decided J&J was guilty of 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.
Previous Pinnacle Trial Verdicts
These trials are what are called “bellwether trials.” They’re conducted by a judge who oversees the entire litigation, where more than 9,700 cases are filed. Once this judge conducts enough bellwether trials to lay down a template for future judges, the remaining cases will then be tried, individually, by other judges in the particular jurisdictions where the cases originate.
This was the fourth bellwether trial. Johnson & Johnson and Depuy actually won the first bellwether trial regarding their Pinnacle metal-on-metal implant. That trial was for a single plaintiff who had a defective Pinnacle implant in each hip. Unfortunately, the jury in that case was not swayed by her arguments.
Since then, however, the judge overseeing this litigation decided that the remaining bellwether trials will be “multiple-plaintiff” trials. Instead of hearing only one plaintiff’s story, this guarantees that the same jury will hear from multiple people who each had the same implant and suffered similar injuries. As you can imagine, this makes the plaintiffs’ arguments much stronger.
Johnson & Johnson and DePuy are now struggling to defend these cases. This is the 3rd multi-million (or billion) dollar verdict in a row against Johnson & Johnson and Depuy Orthopedics for selling defectively designed Pinnacle hips.
- In March 2016, the jury in the second bellwether trial awarded 5 severely injured hip replacement patients a $500 million verdict against J&J and Depuy. The court later reduced the award to $150 million, finding that the jury award exceeded certain limits set by law.
- Then in March of 2017, in the third bellwether trial, the jury sided with 6 patients handing down a stunning $1 billion jury verdict in their favor. The court thereafter found that his award exceeded certain limits and reduced the jury verdict to $543 million.
This verdict pattern is a good sign for all patients suffering from the side effects of metal on metal hip implants, but it’s bad news for a company facing more than 9,700 Pinnacle lawsuits.
November 2017 Dallas Federal Bellwether Trial Facts:
The jury deliberated for 14 hours to reach a verdict.
The trial took 2 months from opening statements through today’s verdict.
The jury says the company knew about major problems with their Pinnacle hip implants but did not warn patients about the risks involved with the hips.
Patients in the case say they’ve had tissue damage, muscle loss, excruciating pain, difficulty walking, and walking with a limp among other side effects.
The cause of their problems stemmed from the metal surfaces of the cup and head rubbing together and shed microscopic metal parts that spread through their entire bodies causing horrific side effects.
Depuy stopped selling the Pinnacle Metal on Metal hips in 2013 but never issued a recall.
Johnson & Johnson is facing at least 9,700 lawsuits over the Pinnacle metal on metal hip implants.
What to Do If You Have a Metal-on-Metal Hip Replacement
You should contact your orthopedic doctor immediately, even if you’re not having symptoms. Orthopedic surgeons say patients with MoM hips should get a blood test for metal ion levels every 3 months for as long as they have the metal-on-metal hip in their bodies. Often there are no symptoms even if a patient has extremely high metal levels.
Pinnacle is one of many brands of metal on metal hips causing severe side effects. No matter what type of MoM hip you have, you should be in regular contact with your doctor or surgeon.
About our extensive experience with metal-on-metal hip lawsuits
Mctlaw filed the FIRST metal-on-metal hip lawsuit in the United States. Our attorneys are leaders in the nationwide litigations over MoM hips. We actively and aggressively represent our clients throughout their cases in both state and federal courts. With over a decade of experience in metal-on-metal hip lawsuits, we are not afraid to go to trial against these orthopedic corporations.
If you have questions about your situation, call our office at 888.952.5242 or complete the form below and we’ll contact you.
