Zimmer Hip Replacement Lawsuits

As of March 2023, Zimmer was offering to settle most of its Durom Cup lawsuits, but there have been no other approved settlements or jury verdicts. The company offered to settle most of the lawsuits in March 2016 for $314 million. It had faced more than 700 lawsuits in a multidistrict litigation, or MDL, in a New Jersey federal court.

People filed the first Zimmer hip implant lawsuits over the Durom Acetabular Component, more commonly referred to as the Durom Cup, shortly after it arrived on the market in 2006. The company temporarily recalled the device in 2008 after receiving reports that it was failing prematurely in patients.

A large number of plaintiffs were not happy with the settlement offer and chose not to take part in it. The MDL has been closed since November 2022.

Current active Zimmer lawsuits concern the M/L Taper Hip Prosthesis implanted with Zimmer’s Versys Femoral Head. As of March 2023, these cases are still active, and Zimmer hip lawyers are accepting cases, but the deadline is fast approaching to be included in an upcoming settlement.

There were 302 lawsuits pending in the mass litigation MDL 2956 in New York under Judge Paul Crotty as of March 2023. Plaintiffs filed these lawsuits over different versions of Zimmer’s M/L Taper Hip Prosthesis implanted with its Versys Femoral Head. Those lawsuits were combined in an MDL in October 2018.

According to lawsuits, the Taper Hip Prostheses were made from a titanium alloy, and the Versys Femoral Head was made from a cobalt-chromium alloy. Lawsuits claimed wear corrosion between the metal components caused trunnionosis – wear affecting the junction where the head and neck of the hip implant are joined. Trunnionosis can release metal ions into the blood, which the lawsuits claim caused metallosis and other serious complications.

In April 2022, Zimmer and the plaintiffs entered into a confidential settlement agreement. On March 20, 2023, Zimmer advised the court that it was ready to finalize the settlement agreement. The settlement will fund on April 28, 2023, and the deadline to be included in the settlement is April 15, 2023.

Plaintiffs who don’t want to be included in the settlement will have to produce additional documentation before going to pretrial proceedings.

People who filed lawsuits said the Durom Cup caused serious complications requiring surgery to correct the problem. The device was designed to fuse to the hip socket without cement or screws, but the implant failed to fuse in some patients, causing complications.

A year after the Durom Cup arrived on the market, a doctor who worked with Zimmer warned the company of potential problems with the implant’s design. Dr. Lawrence Dorr, an experienced surgeon and consultant for the manufacturer, told Zimmer in 2007 that a number of his patients required revision surgery. The doctor stopped using the device and notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before publicly warning other surgeons in April 2008.

Zimmer eventually issued a temporary recall of the device in July 2008. About 12,000 U.S. patients had received the Durom Cup. The company said the recall was to postpone hip replacements involving the device until Zimmer could issue new implantation instructions. The FDA stated that the recall was caused by false and misleading labeling.

In October 2009, the company returned the device to the market with new surgical instructions and said it would remain available in the United States. However, Zimmer discontinued the product in 2010.

That same year, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation combined Durom Cup lawsuits into a multidistrict litigation.

Over the years, Zimmer has agreed to millions of dollars of settlements over its hip implants. It has also lost its fair share of trials, with juries awarding millions to plaintiffs.

Zimmer had estimated a net expense of $450 million for Durom Cup-related claims from 2008 to 2019, according to a March 31, 2019, SEC filing. In 2015, the company estimated about $314.6 million to settle claims in 2016.

Historically, Zimmer has kept the details of its settlements quiet and has only provided estimates of payouts in its SEC filings to investors. In its most recent 2022 settlement agreement in the Zimmer M/L Taper Hip Prosthesis or M/L Taper Hip Prosthesis with Kinectiv Technology and Versys Femoral Head Products Liability Litigation MDL in New York, the exact settlement amount hasn’t been shared publicly. The company has said the settlement will fund at the end of April 2023 and start paying out claims.

After Zimmer became Zimmer Biomet, the company took on the liability for Biomet hip lawsuits as well.

If you are choosing a Zimmer hip lawyer to handle your case, make sure they have the experience and resources necessary to take on a large device maker such as Zimmer Biomet. Don’t be afraid to talk to more than one lawyer before hiring the lawyer you feel is right for you.

For example, Drugwatch partners with Zimmer hip lawyers from law firms that have decades of experience filing lawsuits on behalf of people injured by defective medical devices. These large, award-winning national law firms have been on plaintiff’s steering committees and held leadership positions in Zimmer MDL litigation and other medical device MDLs.

They’ve been instrumental in getting billions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for clients harmed by defective drugs and medical devices.