Conserve Hip Implant MDL Reassigned To Georgia Federal Judge

Conserve Hip Implant MDL Reassigned To Georgia Federal Judge

Introduction

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) reassigned Wright Medical Conserve Hip implant cases remaining in the MDL docket to Georgia Federal Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The July 10 order includes 12 cases which were not a part of the master settlement and were filed directly in the MDL.

About 200 pending cases over defective Conserve Hip implants filed across several states were dismissed in June.  Lawsuits filed against Wright metal-on-metal hip implant claimed adverse events of device dislocation, severe pain and metal toxicity in the blood due to the faulty design involving Conserve, Dynasty, and Lineage implants. The Wright Conserve multidistrict Litigation (MDL No. 2329) formed in February 2012, in the Northern District of Georgia was overlooked by Judge William S. Duffey. In May 2012, a Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding No. 4710 (JCCP) petition was approved before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jane Johnson, consolidating California state-court cases involving Wright Medical hip replacement and revision matters, including Wright Medical’s Conserve, Lineage, and Dynasty hip implants.

Stryker Corporation faces similar allegations of causing internal complications due to the alleged faulty design of Stryker Hip implant device. Stryker Hip Replacement lawsuits are centralized before U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani under MDL No. 2768 – in Re: Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Head Products Liability Litigation.