Money Set Aside for DePuy Recall Lawsuit Settlements

For those involved in lawsuits against DePuy Orthopedics, settlements may soon be coming. These settlements could potentially be worth millions of dollars. The news comes in the form of a fourth quarter financial statement released by Johnson & Johnson, in which it was shown that the company set aside $922 million dollars to pay for “the net impact of litigation settlements, product liability expense and costs associated with the DePuy ASR Hip recall.” Johnson & Johnson currently owns DePuy Orthopedics.
This is Just the Start
Experts are now starting to chime in after the release of this news, saying that this is just the beginning. According to experts, there will be a lot more money set aside for DePuy hip settlements. They also believe that many more people will start filing lawsuits against DePuy now that settlements are looking like a possibility.
When the last count was done, there were somewhere around 100 DePuy hip recall lawsuits in the courts. However, analysts are now saying that the count could rise into the thousands, based on the fact that attorneys are currently evaluating hundreds of new cases. Add to this number the some 37,000 Americans who were implanted with the device in question, and you have a recipe for a huge case.
DePuy took the devices off the market after it was shown that their implants had a 13% failure rate. This means that 13 out of every 100 people with the implant will develop problems. But what is worse is that the real failure rate may be around 50%. That makes surgery a gamble.

Attorneys Get Ready for Lawsuits

Bloomberg news recently got to interview an attorney in a leadership position on the DePuy case. “There is no doubt there will be thousands of cases,” she told Bloomberg News. “The damages will be in the billions of dollars.”
She then added, “If J&J is going to be reasonable and compensate the injuries accordingly, the litigation may be over in two years.”
Johnson & Johnson’s $922 million probably won’t come close to covering the lawsuits that are already out there. If they want a quick resolution to these lawsuits, they will have to put up some more money.