Many legal experts believe that it is likely that DePuy hip lawsuits surrounding DePuy’s Pinnacle hip replacement systems will be consolidated in multidistrict litigation, a legal process that combines the pretrial processes of similar cases in order to help speed the litigation process. Unlike class action, which is a similar method of consolidating related cases, multidistrict litigation cases may be sent back to the courts from which they originated after pretrial processes such as witness testimony and evidence collection are complete.
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, a 7-member federal judicial panel, met recently in Louisville, Kentucky to discuss matters related to a wide array of multidistrict cases, including two matters related to DePuy hip litigation. The first involves several plaintiffs who wish to not have their DePuy cases included in MDL 2197, the multidistrict litigation case that is combining many similar DePuy hip replacement cases, mostly associated with their ASR system. The second is a motion brought by plaintiff Catherine Falvey, who has requested centralization of DePuy lawsuits surrounding the
Pinnacle hip replacement system. Victims suffering the side effects of DePuy hip failure, like Catherine Falvey, are highly advised to contact an experienced DePuy hip lawyer.
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has not yet released any kind of statement regarding their rulings on the subjects, but since the similar ASR system has already seen cases combined in multidistrict litigation it is likely that the same will be true of the Pinnacle system. Falvey has suggested three possible locations for centralized litigation: the Southern District of Texas, the Central District of California, or the Northern District of Ohio. If consolidated in the Northern District of Ohio, Pinnacle litigation would be combined with ASR litigation.
Both the ASR system and the Pinnacle system manufactured by DePuy Orthopedics have been linked to metallosis, in which metal shavings are formed as the metal-on-metal aspect of the hip replacement system rubs against itself and metal shavings are formed that work their way into a patient’s bloodstream, causing pain and swelling among other complications. DePuy hip complications are painful, risky, and expensive revision surgery, which are made more serious by the side effects themselves.
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