This Week, Status Conference For DePuy MDL Will Be Held
Hundreds of recipients of DePuy Orthopaedics’ ASR XL Acetabular System and ASR Hip Resurfacing System have filed for individual and class action lawsuits when the hip implants were recalled from the market. Both these hip replacement devices fail within 5 years of implantation in about one in eight recipients. A failing hip implant would mean a costly and risky revision surgery. The second hip replacement procedure is made even more difficult with complications such as cobalt and chromium poisoning. Recipients want to have their losses compensated since it was not their fault they were implanted with a defective device. Twelve to thirteen percent of the 93,000 recipients are known to have been affected by the DePuy hip recall. All federal lawsuits against the company have now fallen under an MDL ruling.
The case was given to Judge David A. Katz of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Toledo. An initial status conference will occur in January 20 to determine which lawyer will be assigned to certain aspects of the case. The attorneys were given until the 23rd of December to apply for these leadership positions. Two minutes is all that is given to each attorney for them to be able to state their reasons for wanting the positions.
In order for plaintiffs as well as the defendant to have ease of accss to relevant pretrial information, the Multidistrict Litigation was deemed necessary. Seeing that hundreds have filed for the DePuy lawsuits, MDL ruling would acquire for all partied involved an easier pursuit of the case. Because each case is different from each other, plaintiffs can tailor the information to their individual cases instead of receiving a lump-sum payout that they would get from class action lawsuits. Product liability lawsuits, therefore, would benefit more from an MDL rather than class action suits.
Based on the DePuy lawsuit’s progress, legal experts now believe that the cases could reach 4,000 in number. When you find out for certain that you are a recipient of the DePuy device and have experienced complications, it is best that you seek the advice of an attorney. Learn more about the DePuy case in the hip replacement recall information site.