A federal panel reviewing a $1.04 billion hip implant verdict appeared skeptical about Johnson & Johnson’s arguments that a Dallas judge had no jurisdiction over a trial involving five California plaintiffs.

In oral arguments in Thursday, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Paul Clement of Kirkland & Ellis said his client, Johnson & Johnson, never agreed to waive objections to venue for future bellwether trials after losing a $502 million verdict in the multidistrict litigation’s second trial. The appeal is over the 2016 verdict in the third trial.