A
California Superior Court judge has denied DePuy Orthopaedics’ motions for new
trial or judgment notwithstanding the verdict, upholding the $8.3 million
judgment that resulted from the state’s first trial of a DePuy ASR hip implant
case. The case is Kransky v. DePuy, BC456086, California Superior Court, Los
Angeles County.
In March, the jury hearing the DePuy ASR recall lawsuit in California found
the ASR hip was defectively designed, and awarded more than $8.3 million to the
Plaintiff, Loren Kransky. Mr. Kransky sued the company under
the theory that the ASR was defectively designed as well as DePuy's failure to
warn his doctors that its product was dangerous. He claimed that the ASR hip
caused him to suffer severe side effects, including metal poisoning. The jury
found in favor of Mr. Kransky on the design defect claim and in favor of DePuy
on the failure-to-warn claim.
During that trial, evidence was introduced which indicated Johnson &
Johnson and its subsidiary, DePuy Orthopaedics, had knowledge that the ASR hip
product was defective years before the recall was announced. The recall
occurred in August 2010. However, that information was not shared with the
public at large or the medical community. According to a New York Times report
published on April 16th, much of the same evidence was introduced in a second
trial that concluded last month in Illinois state court. However, the jury
hearing that case found for Johnson & Johnson. For more information on that
case, see my previous blog posts.
Los
Angeles Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Czuleger issued his decision from the
bench following a hearing May 24 and has scheduled a hearing in June on the
plaintiff’s attorneys’ request for approximately $1.2 million in costs. DePuy
submitted its motion for JNOV April 17th in the corporation’s bid to
persuade Judge Czuleger to throw out the verdict. In their motion, Depuy
argued that the jury had erred and its verdict was inconsistent.Thus far, there has been no written order.
Judge
Czuleger ruled that although there was a "legitimate conflict" in the
evidence at trial as to when DePuy knew that its ASR hip implants were
dangerous, this did not bar Mr. Kransky's ability to hold DePuy liable for a
defectively designed product. The judge also rejected DePuy's claim that the
overall body of evidence was insufficient to support Mr. Kransky's verdict,
noting that there was "strong evidence" in support of his claim.
Court records indicate that there are more than 11,000 DePuy ASR hip
lawsuits currently pending throughout the United States, most of which have
been filed in a multidistrict litigation underway in U.S. District Court,
Northern District of Ohio. The first trials in the MDL are expected to begin in
September 2013. That date is subject to change as the first bellwether case has
been continued already this year. The ASR MDL is titled In re: DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. ASR Hip Implant Products Liability
Litigation – MDL 2197.
Our firm is currently investigating claims for those people
who have been implanted with the DePuy hip replacement devices, both ASR and
Pinnacles. If you would like a free case evaluation, please contact Booth Samuels toll free 1-866-515-8880 or by email at booths@pittmandutton.com.
