Jury Awards More than 1 Billion in Pinnacle Hip Implant Lawsuit
Recently a Dallas federal jury awarded six plaintiffs who were seriously injured by defective Pinnacle hip implants manufactured by Johnson and Johnson and it’s subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. with a $1.041 billion verdict.
The Dallas jurors determined that the metal-on-metal implants were defective in design and that the manufacturers failed to warn consumers about the dangers of their product. The $1.041 billion verdict includes 32 million in actual damages and the rest in punitive damages.
Johnson & Johnson, who is currently facing more than 8,000 hip implant lawsuits, stated it plans to appeal the verdict, and they are denying any wrongdoing in the manufacturing and marketing of the Pinnacle hip implants.
The California plaintiffs, who were implanted with the Pinnacle hip devices, suffered erosion of the bone, tissue death and additional injuries which have all been tied to the faulty hip device design.
Pinnacle implants were created with metal sockets instead of safer materials. The metal-on-metal can cause the socket to make contact with the ball head, leading to corrosion, bone and tissue erosion.
This is the third test case to go to trial after nearly 8,400 lawsuits were consolidated in a Texas federal court. The test cases will help determine the value of all remaining claims.
The second Pinnacle hip implant case produced a $500 million verdict, and in the first case in 2014, Johnson & Johnson and DePuy were both cleared of any liability.
DePuy did stop selling the defective device in 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration strengthened its regulations for artificial hip replacements. That same year, the companies settled more than 7,000 lawsuits against their ASR metal-on-metal hip implant for $2.5 billion.
This recent Pinnacle hip implant verdict delivers a clear message to companies that defective products will not be tolerated and that Johnson & Johnson must make changes to its products to ensure safety.