The first bellwether trials over defects in hip implants made by Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Orthopaedics resulted in a $2.5 billion settlement on Nov. 19. On March 8, a Los Angeles jury awarded $8.3 million to a man who suffered injuries due to an implant. A second trial in Chicago ended on April 16 with a defense win. The settlement resolves cases in federal court in Cleveland and state courts in California, Illinois and New Jersey over the ASR XL or ASR resurfacing devices. The deal doesn’t need court approval, but critics already have voiced concerns that 4,000 cases would be excluded. DePuy has the right to walk away by June 1 if too many plaintiffs opt out.
MEDICAL MESH
The first bellwether trials in the largest mass tort in the country failed to resolve nearly 40,000 cases filed over transvaginal mesh devices, which are surgically implanted into women to treat pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence. On Aug. 15, a jury awarded $2 million, including punitive damages, to a woman who suffered from pain and had to undergo surgery to remove a device made by C.R. Bard Inc. Bard settled a second case for an undisclosed sum just as trial began on Aug. 21, and a third was voluntarily dismissed just before an Oct. 8 trial. A fourth trial is scheduled for Jan. 10. Bard is one of six defendants in separate multidistrict proceedings in federal court in Charleston, W.Va., and in state courts across the country. Bard lost a $5.5 million verdict award last year in California and a New Jersey jury came back with an $11 million award on Feb. 25 against another defendant, Johnson & Johnson. U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin, frustrated with the bellwether process, has asked the lawyers to start over in selecting cases for trial in 2014.
