DePuy Hip Replacement Lawsuit Status Conference This Month

Spurred by the disastrous DePuy hip replacement recall, thousands of affected individuals have filed hip replacement lawsuits against the manufacturer alleging it designed a defective product. Many filed their cases in federal court, and under federal law, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) consolidated the cases and sent them to federal District Court Judge David A. Katz of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. The case is designated In re: DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., ASR Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation (MDL Docket No. 1:10-md-02197).

New Status Conference

By Case Management Order No. 10, dated October 26, 2011, Judge Katz scheduled a case management conference on November 22, 2011, at the James M. Ashley and Thomas W. L. Ashley Courthouse in Toledo, Ohio. The conference will include the defendant, DePuy Orthopaedics, and the plaintiffs’ executive committee, which consists of six attorneys assigned by the court when the MDL began.

At this point in the MDL, the parties are still gathering the necessary information to understand plaintiffs’ cases. Months ago, at the previous status conference, the court required plaintiffs to submit fact sheets and medical records authorizations to the defendant. The fact sheets included important information such as the character of the plaintiffs’ injuries and where and whether they underwent revision procedures.

Now, the court is requiring the defendant to provide information of its own, specifically anything related to each recalled ASR hip replacement or component plaintiffs received. Plaintiffs must identify their respective devices by serial number, and then within 120 days, DePuy must transfer to them the following information: the component’s manufacturing date; the manufacturing location; the shipping date; the component’s chain of custody (to disprove claims of tampering); and the identity of the sales representatives present at the hip replacement surgery. DePuy must also disclose any documents containing relevant communications concerning each device and any adverse event reports in Broadspire’s, the insurance company overseeing the recall for DePuy and Johnson & Johnson, possession.

The Rottenstein Law Group Comments

Rochelle Rottenstein, the principal attorney for the Rottenstein Law Group said of the status conference, “We implore anyone with a friend or relative who has received a hip replacement device since 2003 to reach out to that person and recommend that he or she consult a physician immediately and then speak to a qualified personal injury lawyer.”

If you received a recalled DePuy hip replacement, it’s important to consider all your legal options. A DePuy hip lawsuit may get you a higher amount of compensation than cooperating with DePuy through its claims process. If you want to go this route, the Rottenstein Law Group offers free, confidential legal consultations for DePuy ASR recipients. All you need to do is click on this link or complete the contact form to the right and one of our hip replacement lawyers will be in touch.