Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet with one of the attorneys on the Trial Team for the injured plaintiffs in the jury trial set to begin on January 6, 2016 in Dallas, Texas. I was told that the trial included six plaintiffs cases that would be tried together. The trial is expected to take 3 months to complete. This is the second bellwether trial in the coordinated federal multidistrict litigation. All of the lawsuits filed in the U.S. federal courts have been assigned to Judge Kinkeade in Dallas, Texas for pretrial management and bellwether trials. There are thousands of cases in the multidistrict litigation.
The DePuy Pinnacle Ultamet is a metal on metal hip implant that has a high failure rate from metallosis. Metallosis is damage to the tissue and bone in the hip joint from cobalt and chromium leaching from the metal on metal articulation between the metal ball and the metal cup face in the implant. The manufacturer, DePuy, is owned by Johnson & Johnson. So far, these companies have refused to settle any of these cases or offer any compensation to hip implant recipients with failed implants.
DePuy did offer settlements to recipients of the recalled DePuy ASR metal on metal hips. The manufacturers of the Stryker Rejuvenate and the Biomet Magnum hips have settled most of the lawsuits against those companies.
The Pinnacle trial team is experienced, well financed, and well prepared to take on DePuy and Johnson & Johnson in this trial and I expect a substantial verdict against the companies. I hope that a substantial verdict will influence the companies to give Pinnacle implant patients with failed hips an opportunity to settle their case and receive compensation for the suffering that they have endured.