MDL Panel To Hear Arguments From Lawyers Over DePuy Hip Recall

On November 18, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation will meet at Duke Law School in Durham, North Carolina and hear arguments about whether all lawsuits filed in U.S. federal district courts over the DePuy ASR hip recall should be consolidated and centralized in one court for the purpose of pretrial litigation.

Nationwide, the number of lawsuits filed against DePuy Orthoapedics has skyrocketed since the company issued a recall of 93,000 ASR XL Acetabular Systems and ASR Hip Resurfacing Systems in August. The hip implant devices were recalled after data from the National Joint Registry for England and Wales showed that 1 in 8 ASR recipients experience problems with the device within five years of implantation and require a second hip replacement surgery. The complaints filed by plaintiffs in these cases all similarly allege that the ASR implants are defective, DePuy failed to adequately test them, and  that DePuy failed to promptly recall the devices when a higher-than-normal failure rate was detected.

When the Panel on Multidistrict Litigation convenes, it will hear arguments from plaintiffs’ lawyers and attorneys representing DePuy about whether to approve the cases for MDL. If MDL is approved, the panel must also decide in what federal court the litigation will take place. To date, a number of locations  been suggested by plaintiffs, including  the District of New Jersey, the Central District of California, and the Northern District of Illinois. DePuy does not oppose MDL for the hip implant lawsuits, but argues that transferring them to the District of New Jersey under Judge Susan D. Wigenton is inappropriate because she is currently overseeing litigation stemming from a hip implant recall by Zimmer Holdings, Inc. DePuy believes that presiding over so many similar cases could cause confusion and unintended prejudice to all parties. Instead, the company has suggested that the litigation be transferred to the Northern District of Indiana or the Northern District of Ohio, both of which are close to DePuy’s headquarters in Warsaw, Indiana.

Hundreds of lawsuits throughout the U.S. have been filed against DePuy in response to the recall, and some attorneys believe that the total number of cases could reach 4,000 or more as additional injured patients come forward. If you received a hip replacement after July 2003, you may also have received a defective ASR hip. The only way to find out for sure is to contact your orthopedic surgeon. Patients who were implanted with a recalled DePuy unit are also encouraged to speak with a DePuy hip recall lawyer. Even if you do not take legal action, it is important that you speak with a hip recall lawyer about your rights and what compensation, if any, you are entitled to.