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Lawsuits claim hip implant manufacturers made defective products and failed to warn the public about the risks. Metal-on-metal hip implants are at the center of these lawsuits because plaintiffs say their hip replacements resulted in complications requiring additional surgeries to correct problems and replace the devices.
People file product liability or wrongful injury lawsuits when companies sell dangerous products or fail to warn the public of the risks associated with the devices. Medical device lawyers argue that people who were promised durable, effective hip replacements ended up with devices that had high failure rates and caused complications including pain and metal poisoning.
Status of Hip Lawsuits and Settlements
While most lawsuits involving metal-on-metal hip implants have been resolved, more than 14,000 hip cases were still pending across the country as of July 2018.
Multidistrict litigations (MDLs) involving at least two manufacturers of hips are still in relatively early stages. MDLs allow several lawsuits – even thousands at a time – to move more quickly and less expensively through the legal process. Lawyers representing people hurt by hip implants or attorneys representing the companies that made the devices may request lawsuits be combined into an MDL.
Lawsuits over Smith & Nephew’s BHR and R3 hips and Stryker’s LFIT V40 femoral head have only recently been combined into MDLs and a multicounty litigation (MCL) in New Jersey. Meanwhile bellwether trials over DePuy’s Pinnacle hips are still underway. Bellwether trials are test cases that can measure how juries will react to the evidence in a case. They can help determine eventual settlements.
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Hip Implant Lawsuits Underway
Depuy’s Pinnacle Lawsuits
After plaintiffs lost the first bellwether trial in the DePuy Pinnacle MDL, juries awarded verdicts to the people injured by hips in the next three trials. In March 2016, a jury awarded $502 million to five plaintiffs. Another jury awarded $1 billion to six plaintiffs in December 2016. The verdicts were later reduced under Texas’ lawsuit caps to $151 million and $543 million respectively. The third trial resulted in a $247 million verdict for six plaintiffs in November 2017. There were 9,605 lawsuits pending in the MDL in July 2018.
Smith & Nephew
In April 2017, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation combined 28 lawsuits over the company’s BHR and R3 hip implants into a single MDL in Maryland. As of July 2018, there were 387 lawsuits pending in the MDL.
Stryker LFIT V40
In April 2017, a federal panel combined 6 lawsuits over Stryker’s LFIT V40 femoral head into an MDL in Massachusetts federal court. As of July 2018, there were 327 lawsuits in the MDL. The first bellwether trial has been tentatively set for September 2019. Meanwhile, New Jersey’s State Supreme Court also combined all state court LFIT V40 lawsuits into a multicounty litigation (MCL) in Bergen County in May 2017. More than 100 cases are pending in the New Jersey MCL.
Some hip implant manufacturers have resolved thousands of lawsuits through settlement agreements in recent years. Settlement payments to some of the people who sued are still going out in some of those cases.
Recent Hip Implant Settlements
Biomet
Biomet settled all of its M2a Magnum cases for $56 million in January 2015. Zimmer bought Biomet in 2015, and the company estimated that it would take $33.4 million to resolve pending claims in its annual report.
Depuy's ASR Lawsuits
Johnson & Johnson, DePuy’s parent company, settled more than 8,000 lawsuits for $4 billion in November 2013. In March 2015, DePuy extended the settlements to cover an addition 1,800 claims. The estimated cost to the company was an additional $420 million.
Stryker
Stryker settled most cases against it in 2014. The agreement was expected to total about $1.4 billion. The settlement was extended in December 2016 to cover additional plaintiffs. The majority of payments were expected to be completed by the end of 2017.
Wright
Wright settled 1,292 claims involving its Conserve, Dynasty and Lineage implants for $240 million in November 2016. The company announced a further $89.75 million settlement in October 2017. The settlement also covered dozens of cases in California state courts.
Zimmer
Zimmer settled almost all of its Durom Cup lawsuits in March 2016 for an estimated $314 million. There were 260 cases still pending in the MDL as of July 2018.
Most settlements only cover claimants who had qualified revision surgeries. People who did not have a revision surgery or who filed a lawsuit after the statute of limitations expired may be ineligible for some settlements.
Juries have Awarded Millions to Hip Implant Patients
Jury awards have ranged from the millions of dollars to more than $1 billion for a group of plaintiffs in one hip replacement trial.
If juries find a company’s actions were especially harmful, they may award the plaintiff punitive damages in addition to compensation for their injuries. In some cases, punitive damages have led to large jury awards for people hurt by faulty or defective hip implants.
Major Jury Verdicts in Hip Replacement Lawsuits
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July 2015
Kline V. Zimmer Gary Kline won a $9.2 million verdict against Zimmer when a jury believed the Durom Cup that Kline received had a design defect. Kline’s hip implant failed after 15 months. An appeals judge later reduced Kline’s award to $828,000.
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November 2015
Christiansen V. Wright Wright lost an $11 million verdict involving its Conserve implant. The plaintiff, Robyn Christiansen, proved that her metal implant caused tissue damage after six years. Her reward was eventually reduced to $2.1 million on appeal.
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March 2016
Aoki Et Al. V> Depuy Five plaintiffs won a joint case against DePuy in the second Pinnacle bellwether trial. DePuy was told to pay $502 million to the claimants who said their Pinnacle implants were defective. The award was later reduced to $151 million. An appeals court threw out the verdict in April 2018. The case can be retried.
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December 2016
Andrews Et Al. V. Depuy Six plaintiffs won a $1 billion verdict in the third Pinnacle bellwether trial. They claimed the hip implants caused metal to enter their blood and tissue, causing a number of complications. The award was later reduced to $543 million under a Texas law capping jury awards.
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November 2017
Alicea Et Al. V. Depuy Six plaintiffs won a $247 million verdict in the third Pinnacle bellwether trial. They claimed the hip implants caused severe pain and inflammation, bone erosion, tissue loss and other complications.
However, appeals court judges may sometimes reduce the amount of large jury verdicts if the judge believes the amount ordered by the jury was excessive. Many states also have limits on the amount of punitive damages juries can award, which often forces appeals judges to reduce awards.
What You Can Sue for if Your Hip Replacement Fails
Faulty or defective devices can cause a wide variety of hip implant complications, but lawsuits tend to focus on common defects that cause serious injuries.
You may be able to file a metal-on-metal hip implant lawsuit if you experienced any of these conditions:
- Dislocation
- Loosening
- Metallosis - Metal Poisoning
- Revision Surgery
Current lawsuits involve people who received a hip implant in 2007 or later and suffered an injury that requires an additional, or revision, surgery to fix their problem.
Accusations Against Hip Implant Manufacturers
Thousands of plaintiffs claim hip implant manufacturers made defective products and failed to warn the public about the risks. Metal-on-metal implants are at the center of litigation today because plaintiffs say the implants caused complications that led to painful surgeries to correct problems and replace the implants.
Lawsuits filed against hip implant manufacturers claim:
- Manufacturers marketed their devices as safe when they were not
- Companies failed to properly design, manufacture and test the safety of their implants
- Implant makers failed to adequately warn patients about the risk of their devices
- Implants failed earlier than expected
- Hip implants led to injuries
- Patients suffered complications and required revision surgery
Hip Replacement Manufacturers and Brands Facing Lawsuits
Five companies dominated the metal-on-metal hip implant market and have been involved in the largest hip replacement lawsuits. The majority of hip implants named in lawsuits have metal-on-metal designs.
Manufacturers' Model(s) Involved in Lawsuits
- DePuy
- Pinnacle, ASR XL Acetabular System, ASR Hip Resurfacing System
- Smith & Nephew
- Birmingham (BHR) Hip, R3 Hip Acetabular System, Modular SMF Hip System (MIS Hip Stem), Modular Redapt, Revision Femoral Hip System, Emperion Hip System
- Stryker
- ABG II Modular-neck Hip Stems, Rejuvenate Hip, LFIT V40 Femoral Head (used with Stryker Accolade hips)
- Wright Medical Technology
- Conserve Plus, Lineage, Dynasty, Profemur Z Hip Stem
- Zimmer
- Durom Cup
The FDA classifies metal-on-metal hip systems as Class III (higher risk) devices, but the agency regulates them under the 510(k) premarket notification program. The program allows companies to get their products on the market without rigorous testing if they are similar enough to an already-approved product.
MDL or Class Action Lawsuit for Defective Hip Implants
Most major hip implant lawsuits and settlements have involved multidistrict litigation (MDL) instead of class action lawsuits. The two legal approaches may sound similar, but have major differences.
Class Action Lawsuit
- A limited number of people file on behalf of others with similar injuries caused by the same device
- Injuries have to be the same or very similar
- Any settlement or verdict is divided proportionately among those in the lawsuit
- May be filed in state or federal court
Multidistrict Litigation (MDL)
- Individuals, sometimes thousands, file individual lawsuits through their lawyers who ask a federal panel to combine them in an MDL
- Range of injuries may be much wider
- Any settlement or verdicts may vary from person to person based on types of injuries or other factors
- Limited to federal courts (States may also create similar method of consolidating cases)
MDLs tend to make more sense for most people bringing lawsuits against a hip implant manufacturer. They allow for differences in the types of injuries people suffer and make much of the legal process more efficient.
History of Metal-on-Metal Hip Recalls and Lawsuits
Metal-on-metal implants became popular throughout the 2000s, but quickly fell out of favor as reports of complications mounted, leading to recalls, lawsuits and FDA actions.
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2000
Sulzer Orthopedics recalls 40,000 hip replacement sockets for dislocation risk
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2001
More than 2,200 people require revision surgery to replace Sulzer implants
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2001
Three women win $15.4 million verdict against Sulzer, more than 1,000 lawsuits filed
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2002
Sulzer settles 4,000 lawsuits for $1 billion ($200,000 to each plaintiff)
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2008
Zimmer temporarily recalls its Durom Cup hip component
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2010
U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) consolidates Durom Cup lawsuits into an MDL
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2010
DePuy ASR lawsuits combined into an MDL
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2011
Lawsuits over DePuy’s Pinnacle hip implants combined in an MDL
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2012
Wright Medical, Smith & Nephew and Biomet each issue large recalls of hip implants
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2012
Lawsuits over Wright Medical’s Conserve implants combined into an MDL
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2012
Lawsuits over Biomet’s M2a Magnum implants combined into an MDL
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2013
JPML combines lawsuits over Stryker’s Rejuvenate and ABG II into an MDL
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2016
FDA strengthens approval process for metal-on-metal hips
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2016
Stryker recalls more than 42,000 LFIT V40 femoral head components
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2017
JPML combines lawsuits over Smith & Nephew BHR and R3 implants into an MDL
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2017
JPML combines first federal lawsuits over Stryker LFIT V40 femoral heads into an MDL in Massachusetts federal court. New Jersey follows suit a month later, combining state lawsuits over the device into an MCL in state court.
Not all metal-on-metal hip models with high complication or failure rates were recalled. Manufacturers simply removed some of them from the market.
