A New Jersey judge has set an October start date for a bellwether hip implant lawsuit.
An early trial date has been set in a New Jersey courtroom for a bellwether case involving DePuy hip implants.
Superior Court of New Jersey Judge Brian R. Martinotti has set an October start for this important lawsuit against DePuy. The hip implant lawsuit will be a chance for both sides to gauge juries’ reactions to the evidence. The case is one of just hundreds pending against the medical giant, which is based in New Jersey. More than 600 suits were consolidated into a multicounty litigation.
This case is not the first time DePuy has been in court over its hip implants. A jury awarded $8.3 million in a lawsuit in California, and an Illinois jury ruled in favor of DePuy.
Around the country, there are as many as 10,000 hip implants cases waiting to be processed against DePuy. The lawsuits are all similar in their complaints against DePuy’s implant, and most of the suits were filed after negative publicity forced DePuy and parent company Johnson & Johnson to take the metal-on-metal implant off the market back in 2010. At that time, data suggested the failure rate of the implants was believed to be about 1 in 8. However, some experts believe the failure rate could be as high as 30 percent.
Many of the lawsuits are now wrapped into a multidistrict litigation in federal court in Ohio.
Experts cite the DePuy implant’s quick route to the market as a contributing factor in problems patients have has with the devices. They say that the implants were quickly approved because of their similarity to other previously approved products. Experts also say that the risk of metal poisoning from the implants was not adequately studied before the implants went on the market.
At the Showard Law Firm, we take it very seriously when patients are injured or made sick by defective products. Consult with a Tucson hip implant attorney to see how to can seek justice of you have been the victim of a defective hip implant.
