J&J Initiates Settlement For Pinnacle Hip Defect Claims

J&J Initiates Settlement For Pinnacle Hip Defect Claims

Introduction

According to a December 9 Court filing, a federal judge in Texas overseeing Johnson & Johnson’s Pinnacle Hip litigation indicated about 3,300 of 10,000 artificial hip implant cases filed against them are in the process of settlement. This is the first settlement move by J&J for its seven-year-old Pinnacle Hip implant litigation.

J&J will face a trial on January 14 in Dallas where five patients, who were implanted with the Pinnacle hip implant, will proceed with their claims that the company sold defective artificial hips and failed to warn public about the devices' health hazards. Hip implant recipients argue that DePuy Synthes officials marketed Pinnacle hip implant with improper testing and misguided doctors about the safety and efficiency of the device. The Pinnacle hip lawsuits are consolidated before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade since 2011 (MDL 3:11-MD-02244, In Re: DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation). Instead of negotiating a global settlement, J&J has announced to settle individuals lawyers' inventories of Pinnacle lawsuits. The settlement remains by far confidential as the judge stated, "defendants’ domino confidential settlements have left the court without necessary information about the total or projected value of the settlement."

DePuy faces more than 11,000 lawsuits over ASR and Pinnacle hip implant defects. Similar lawsuits are filed against other manufacturers in the U.S. involving defendants Zimmer, Stryker, Biomet, Wright, and Smith & Nephew.